About Me
? SME cards with 23 years of international experience in managing cards issuing and acquiring business, operations and projects
? Successfully managed large card operations teams at various major international banks and BPO
? Spearheaded large and complex cards based projects such as start-up operations, portfolio migration, new product launch and compliances
? Thorough knowledge of debit, credit, prepaid card products, services and technologies
? Solid grasp and thorough understanding of card network's systems, operating rules and regulations
? Great team leader and player alike with excellent communications skills across all management levels
Education
• Bachelors of Commerce 1988
• Diploma in Administrative Management 1990
• Canadian Securities (CSI) 2010
• Blockchain Fundamentals 2019
• HTML & JAVA Fundamentals 2019
Expertise
Card Operations| Merchant acquiring | ATM transaction processing | Issuer & Acquirer Interchange settlement | Digital Wallet payments | Issuer & Acquirer Dispute management | Fraud & Risk management | Card operating rules & regulations | Projects governance | EMVCO specifications | BIN/ICA licensing & certifications | SDLC Waterfall and Agile project methodologies
Key Accomplishments
• Visa VCR Dispute migration
• Start-up operations Visa co-brand card issuing program
• USD$ MasterCard acceptance at POS & e-Com
• VISA Debit & USD Visa Card issuance programs
• Visa Mag to Chip & Pin conversion
Professional History
Principal Consultant, Cards @ MaxSys for Scotia bank Aug 2013 – Sep 2019
• Spearhead project meetings to meet business requirements delivering quality clinical products
• Review, analyze, challenge and demand requirement clarifications from various multi-disciplinary teams
• Leverage SME cards industry knowledge and experience to formulate and define business scope, objectives and impacts through best practice research and guidelines
• Develop processes to resolve moderate to complex business issues by working with IT/BA support as necessary including analysis and documentation of business and user needs which support project system requirements
• Review cards operating regulatory rules that affect contact centre operations and directs the creation of functional process flow documents
• Participate in JAD technical solution meetings to review gaps, risks and system interdependencies and recommend best optimal technical approach to the business issue
• Facilitate the integration of operational and business standards into work process, system changes in support of achieving organizational goals
• Provide technical and system leadership to support project execution, process optimization, and systems maintenance of cards based payments systems and applications
• Resolve day- to- day operation technical issues. improve client experience and minimize exposure through timely responses and resolutions to service requests
Key projects delivered:
Visa Debit issuance program | Migration to Visa VCR Dispute Management | US$ Visa issuing | Scotia GM co-brand Visa issuance program | Visa Debit VAU launch | Customer Interaction and Offers | KYC Voice Bio authentication
Senior Consultant, Cards @ iGate for RBC Royal Bank Apr 2011 – Aug 2013
• Managed merchant acquiring projects, software solutions and compliance for Moneris
• Reviewed and analyzed BRD and Change Requests (CR) and spearheaded requirements clarifications sessions
• Conducted thorough synthesis and analysis of technical requirements outlined in Visa, MasterCard & Diners network compliance specifications manual
• Converted business requirements into functional specifications and design
• Authored SDLC project artifacts such as project charter, proof of concept, software design, requirements v/s solution matrix and implementation check list
• Performed integration and certification of acquiring channels such as POS, e-com, digital wallet acceptance for Visa, MasterCard & Discover cards
• Co-ordinated with external vendors and Visa/MasterCard/Discover network teams throughout the project life cycle
Key cards acquiring projects delivered:
? Merchant acquirer compliance & mandates
? US$ MasterCard acceptance at POS & e-Com transactions
? Discover cards merchant acquiring
Card Operations Manager @ Ahli Bank of Kuwait Oct 2009 – Jan 2011
• Oversaw teams engaged in day-to-day back office cards issuing and ATM acquiring operations and procedures.
• Supervised cards new issuance, replacement and renewal operations such as card embossing, Perso, mailers, pin management and dispatch in accordance with VISA regulations and bank operations risk management policies.
• Managed teams engaged in card accounting operations like VISA Interchange File processing and Settlement, branch ATM balancing, Cardholder Billing & Payments, General Ledger Posting, etc
• Re-engineered cards operations teams and inter team processes to eliminate gaps and operational delays and losses
• Conducted spot checks on vendor payment systems and practices to ensure compliance
• Closely worked with product owners to conceptualize, design, develop new card products and value added services and integrating them into existing back-office operations and procedures
Head, Cards Systems & Operations @ ElectraCard Services Jan 2008 – Oct 2009
• Managed large cross-functional teams delivering quality cards Issuing/Acquiring business processes and cards operations services to major domestic and international clients
• Delivered quality and timely delivery of services whilst meeting contractual SLAs and TATs
• Successfully reduced per card operational maintenance costs by up to 15% through strategic initiatives such as Dbase management, re-engineering cross-functional/teams workflows, automation & training & development
• Minimized operation revenue leakages by up to 10% by plugging operational gaps, faulty processes, enhanced team co-ordination and by revamping internal audit policies and procedures
• Teamed up with product owners in analyzing, evaluating and documenting RFPs and SOWs
Business Analyst, Cards @ Scotia bank Jun 2006 – Jan 2008
• Reviewed and analysed VISA technical specifications and incorporated them into business requirement document.
• Effectively led requirement sessions with business sponsors, impacted technical and development teams, UAT and end business users to highlight the upcoming system changes and ensuring compliance with VISA requirements.
• Closely worked with the back office settlement and reconciliation team ensuring that VISA mandated changes be incorporated into the business.
• Efficiently documented system changes, job aids and procedures and hosted them onto the SharePoint portal repository
Previous Employment History
• Asst. Manager , Card Operations @ Ahli Bank of Qatar, Doha Apr 2005 – Feb 2006
• Sr.Clerk Card Ops & Accounting @ National Bank of Kuwait Mar 1999 - Mar 2005
• Sr.Clerk Card Ops & Accounting @ Gulf Bank, Kuwait Jun 1995 – Mar 1999
References available upon request