Vikram Babbar (Chair) is a Partner & FCC Lead, AML CoE, India at EY Forensics and Integrity Services with around 18 years of professional experience. Vikram has worked closely with Financial Services Regulators across the regions in Fraud and Financial Crime Compliance, Sanctions and Regulatory Compliance audits and has delivered training programs for regulators in the area of forensic investigation of corporate borrowers. He has been involved in the engagements with various organizations involving Financial Crime Compliance transformation, setup and implementation of fraud risk management framework, supporting organization with implementation of tools and technology enablers around KYC Due Diligence and Risk Scoring, Sanctions Compliance, AML & Fraud risk transaction monitoring as well as detection of early warning signals. He has also suggested innovative methodologies using RPA and Automation in the area of Financial Crime Compliance.

Abhishek Bali (Co-Chair) is the CEO of ZIGRAM, a leading data asset organization. In his current role, Abhishek leads various business initiatives and data solutions that leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence, and deep technology applications, to solve real-world problems. Some of the products and technologies developed by him are in the space of Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), KYC/DD, Adverse Media, Sanctions, Cannabis Businesses, High-Risk individuals, and Entity Monitoring.

Before setting up ZIGRAM, Abhishek worked at KPMG, where he led teams and global engagements in Financial Crimes Compliance, with a focus on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Anti-Bribery Compliance (ABC), Forensic Investigation, Supply Chain Risk and Data Analytics.

Prior to joining KPMG, he served in various senior roles at BMR Advisors, Dun & Bradstreet and Axis Bank. Over the last decade, he has become a leading voice and champion of Data Assets and its usage in the domains of Financial Crimes, Risk and Compliance.

Khushbu Jain (Co-Chair) is a practicing advocate before the Supreme Court of India and founding partner ARK Legal. She is a recognized name in the field of cyber security and financial crimes involving technologies. She trains international bodies and state government employees with a view on institutional capacity building. She has led several initiatives creating awareness on cybercrime and engendering a better understanding of InfoTech laws. She has also contributed to Maharashtra Cyber in an advisory role.

On the Corporate front, she is a consultant to members of SEBI, and advises them on issues ranging from prohibition of fraudulent and unfair trade practices (PFUTP), embezzlement, prohibition of insider trading (PIT) and other relevant issues.

She has successfully defended several clients facing cartel and bid-rigging trials and has advised them on numerous abuse of dominance matters.

She has represented high profile clients such as Government CPSEs, private listed and unlisted companies, individuals, and has also appeared personally. She has also assisted senior counsels in the Supreme Court of India, High Court of Delhi & Bombay, PMLA Court, Competition Commission of India, NCLT, SEBI, SAT, and arbitration amongst others.

She is a public speaker, skills trainer, opinion column writer for newspapers and a popular guest on national television. She speaks and writes extensively on issues related to corporate law, privacy and cyber issues.

Important cases —

• Jain has been part of many landmark cases and rulings such as–
• Validity of AADHAR, appeared on behalf of the Oil Ministry.
• Dual Diesel policy of India, on behalf of IOCL.
• Infringement of Right to Privacy-against Microsoft. (pending)
• Genocide in Sri Lanka, pro bono.
• Construction ban in Udaipur lake, appeared on behalf of Lake Palace Hotels.
• Circular Trading – Guar, appeared in Competition Commission of India.

Sachin Shah (Programming Director) is a financial crime compliance subject matter enthusiast, has over 23 years of experience working with some of the world’s top global banks, Big 4 firm and domestic banks across India, Asia Pacific and Middle East region, primarily focused on financial crime compliance. He has held senior positions assisting the financial institutions in mitigating financial crime compliance risk.

Pallavi Ajmera (Convenor and Membership Director) is a seasoned Chartered Accountant (CA), also holding the global prestigious CFCS certification in Financial Crime and other domestic certifications in currency derivates, mutual fund advisory, financial planning, and insurance. She has rich experience of over 20 years in field of Investment Banking, Merchant Banking, Consultancy, and Investment advisory having worked with DSP Merrill Lynch, ICICI Bank and presently Ajcon Global Services Limited.

She possesses strong analytical, logical and problem-solving skills which help her to look beyond the numbers and deal with the business realities of situations, understand and analyze business risks and vulnerabilities.

Being an enthusiastic learner herself, she strongly advocates continuous learning and needs for professionals to broaden their knowledge, cross function, and develop vigilance across all business operations.

She spearheads the ACFCS (Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists) India affiliation with Ajcon Consultants Pvt. Ltd to facilitate training in the most challenging field- financial crime prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement.

Her strong business acumen, cross leveraging business relationships, never fading enthusiasm and perseverance, enables her to develop strategic partnerships, deliver value and connect with the most distinguished and experienced professionals working in Financial Crime domains and Finance.

She is also the driving force behind the venture – ‘Project Share The Wisdom’, a knowledge-rich platform on YouTube that serves millions across the globe and is associated with several forums, NGOs, professional networks.

Forming the ACFCS India Chapter, furthers her objectives to build a robust taskforce of finance professionals in India and serve the nation.

Amit Bhatia (Treasurer) is the Head of Compliance and Risk at Avenue Payments India Limited. He is an experienced professional with over 9years of experience specializing in Anti-Money Laundering, Sanctions, Frauds – Prevention and Detection, Anti Bribery, Corruption, and other areas of Financial Compliance.

Prior to joining Avenues, he was with Mizuho Bank, where he managed the Compliance Action Program and Information Control Action Program for the bank.

Amit has also worked with Travelex, Morgan Stanley, HDFC Bank and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK).

He is a Commerce Graduate from Mumbai University and is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS), Certified Financial Crime Specialist (ACFCS) and Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE).

Ritu Verma (Programming Director) is Compliance Officer at Pine Labs, based in India. Ritu has over a decade of experience in Financial Crime Compliance and has worked with banking institutions like ICICI Bank, Barclays to set up and manage regulatory and financial crime compliance. Ritu has also set up policies and processes pertaining to Financial Crime Compliance and Regulatory Compliance for fintech firms like Amazon Pay and Setu. She has extensive experience in working on KYC, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and setting up these processes using tools and technology platforms. She has worked on setting up Risk and Control Assessment framework for firms and worked on projects to streamline compliance practice across the organisation. She has also been involved in engaging with the regulatory authorities to manage regulatory compliance function for the firms.

Kanwaljeet Kaur Soni (Communications Director) is the Director of Fraud and Risk Consulting at Kapp Edge Solutions Pvt Ltd. She is a fellow chartered accountant, certified international investigator with over 19 years of cyber security, fraud detection and prevention experience. She is currently part of Phd Chamber of commerce as a committee member, advisor of MSME India Forum, Member of Centre of Audit Quality-ICAI and she has been supporting multiple govt. and private initiatives. Kanwaljeet has worked closely with companies across India and outside in fraud prevention and detection, sanctions, anti-money laundering, KYC, due diligence and regulatory compliance audits. She has been instrumental in delivering training and offering consulting solutions in the fraud prevention and anti-money laundering domain.

G. Gopalakrishna (Chapter Advisor) worked for Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and CAFRAL for over 37 years. As a career Central Banker, he worked in various capacities in various departments of RBI thus having all round experience as a Regulator and Supervisor. RBI in April 2014 appointed Gopalakrishna as Director, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) promoted by RBI.

Gopalakrishna was Executive Director, RBI from October 2007 to April 2014 and was overseeing the Department of Banking Supervision, Dept. of Non-Banking Supervision, Department of Payment & Settlement System, Financial Stability Unit, Department of Communication, Dept. of Information Technology, and Foreign Exchange Department. He also headed the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).

RBI had appointed him as the Chairman of Working Group (WG) on Information Security, Electronic Banking, Technology Risk management and Cyber Frauds in 2010 and the recommendations of WG was implement by RBI in April 2011 for all banks and financial institutions. The focus of the WG Report was on Information Security, Governance, Audit, BCP and cyber frauds. The guidelines issued by the RBI based on the WG report has become an Industry Standard for banks and financial institutions. Gopalakrishna   also headed the Group which created RBS Rating Model which was accepted and incorporated by the High-level Committee on Re-designing the supervisory architecture of RBI in 2012. In 2013 RBI appointed him as Chairman, Inter-Regulatory Committee of the FSDC which recommended and created Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) in India. He also led the RBI’s internal team which created the Large Credit Registry (CRLIC) in 2014. RBI in 2014 appointed him as the Chairman of the Committee on Capacity Building in Banks and Non-banks and the recommendations of the Committee was implemented by RBI/IBA in 2016 including implementing Certification in Credit Management, Risk Management, Treasury and Balance Sheet management.

As Director, CAFRAL   his main responsibility included creating Research teams and identifying areas of research and provide to RBI and various stake holders with research papers/inputs including visiting Economist from abroad. He was responsible for capacity building of the Senior Management including MD and CEOs, Board of Directors of the Banking and financial sector by organizing workshop/seminars/ conferences both in India and abroad.

He is currently Independent Director on few companies and Director, Risk and Compliance Professional Association (RCPA) a Section 8 Not-For Profit company set up for both on-line and classroom-based training in Risk management and Compliance.

Dr. Ashok Ajmera (Chapter Advisor) is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 40 years of experience in Corporate Advisory Services, Capital Markets, Investment Banking, and financial engineering. Presently he is the Chairman of Ajcon Group of Companies engaged in the entire gamut of financial services.

In the past, Dr. Ajmera has been very active on the committees of NSE, BSE and Brokers Associations. He was an independent director on the Board of Canarabank Securities Ltd and has served on the boards of BBF, JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation and many others. Dr. Ajmera has given more than 2,000 interviews in the capital markets in almost all the business and news channels.

Dhruv Chawla (Chapter Advisor) leads the Financial Crime and Compliance practice for PwC in India. He has over 20 years of experience advising clients on how to manage their reputational and financial risk arising out of fraud, litigation, regulatory, compliance and sanction matters. He has extensive global experience ranging from managing complex multi-jurisdictional client engagements in the areas of Regulatory Compliance, Corporate Investigations, and Litigation issues to working on strategic initiatives for assessing operational effectiveness, designing and implementing Fraud Risk and Financial Crime Monitoring processes and solutions. In his role, he has helped clients in matters related to Anti Money Laundering /KYC/Sanctions/FATCA compliance and remediation, BSA, securities trading surveillance, FATCA, Non-performing Assets (NPA) investigations, fraud and misconduct, and other regulatory driven inquiries. Dhruv is professionally affiliated with renowned associations like – Association of Certified Examiners (ACFE), Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA) and American Bar Association (ABA).

Atul Kumar (Chapter Advisor) is currently working as an Advisor (Ethics & Governance) in IndusInd Bank and also holds two board positions. Earlier, he was Chief Ethics Officer in State Bank of India till May 2021. Considered to be the first Chief Ethics Officer of the Indian Banking, Shri Kumar is accredited with the distinction of conceptualizing, designing, establishing and successfully steering an independent ethics vertical in SBI within a span of one year. He himself wrote the Code of Ethics for SBI which was a first of its kind in the Indian banking.

He started his career in SBI as a probationary officer in 1985 and served it with distinction for nearly 33 years including an overseas assignment as Director (Forex, Treasury & Technology) in SBI Indonesia. Ministry of Finance, Government of India appointed him as Chief Vigilance Officer of Union Bank of India and he served there in executive director grade for more than three years. Possessing extensive experience in handling the ethics risks of various types involving high-value credit, cyber security, procurements, frauds, anti-money laundering and conduct lapses together with overseeing the consequences-management and integrity strengthening systems, he is a Certified Banking Compliance Professional, Associate of Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment- London and a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers & Finance. Shri Kumar is a highly skilled behavior modifier on account of his proven strategic leveraging of technology for mitigation of all kinds of behavioral risks proactively in BFSI space.

Having handled more than 9000 ethical violations and fraud risk-related matters including investigations, he has represented the whole spectrum of Indian public sector financial institutions in various committees constituted by Central Vigilance Commission and Working Groups set up by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). Shri Kumar had been conferred upon ‘Vigilance Excellence Award’ by Institute of Public Enterprises, Osmania University, Hyderabad. He has been a member of National Task Force on Integrity & Transparency constituted by CII. He also chaired a Committee on Ethical Banking in PSBs formed by Ministry of Finance and prepared the course syllabus for IIBF certification programme on Ethics in Banking. He has also been a member of a ‘Working Group on India Business Case for Compliance Deck’ constituted by Ethisphere, a global leading corporate on ethics and compliance.

Professional Qualifications of Shri Kumar include Certificate in Risk in Financial Services (CISI, London), Certified Forensic Accountant (IFS, Pune), Diploma in ‘Cyber Forensics’ from IFS, Certificate in Three Pillar Model for Business Decisions: Strategy, Law & Ethics (University of Michigan), Certification in Forex and Derivatives, Diploma in ‘International Banking & Finance’ from IIBF (First class with distinction), Diploma in ‘Treasury, Investment and; Risk Management’ from IIBF (First class), Diploma in ‘Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination’ from IFS, Certification in ‘Advanced Fraud Risk Management’ from Flemings UK, Certification in ‘International Public Procurement’ from Georgetown University Washington, Certificate in IT security (IIBF)/Certificate in Trade Finance (IIBF) & Certificate in KYC-AML (IIBF), Certification in Forensic Investigations (Gujrat Forensic Science University, Gandhinagar) etc.

A published author, Shri Kumar is a regular external speaker in prestigious organizations like CAFRAL, CIGVA Delhi, National Police Academy Hyderabad, ISB Hyderabad, IIBF Mumbai, Indian Chapter of Business Ethics & Leadership Alliance for South Asia, OP Jindal University, NIBM Pune, Jamshedpur XLRI, Confederation of Indian Industries as also the training colleges and academies of various public sector banks. Central Vigilance Commission invites Shri Kumar as a speaker during the training programmes for the newly inducted CVOs of PSUs & Banks. He was invited by Ministry of Finance to speak on ‘Ethics as a risk mitigation strategy’ in a programme especially organized for the EDs and MDs of all public sector banks. He keeps on visiting IIM Ahmedabad to address MBA students. Last year, he was invited by IIM Bangalore to chair a session on corporate governance and ethics.

Shri Kumar has penned a book on Preventive Vigilance for the commercial banks and is currently working on a book namely ‘Managing Fraud Risk: Applying Psychology for Prevention, Detection, Investigation and Corrective Action’.

Sunder Krishnan (Chapter Advisor) is Chief Risk Officer at Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company, one of India’s leading life insurance companies. Reliance Nippon Life is a joint venture between Reliance Capital Limited and Nippon Life, Japan.

Out of a career spanning over three decades, Mr. Sunder has dedicated 14 years to Reliance Nippon Life, where he has been at the helm of Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Audit, BCP, Information Security, Legal, Secretarial, Claims and Compliance. He has judiciously used technology to implement a risk-based strategy across all these functions. Mr. Sunder’s profile includes leading companies like DSP Merrill Lynch, ING Vysya, Credit Lyonnais, Standard Chartered, Bank International Indonesia, Ernst & Young and Deloitte. His experience spans more than 12 countries, in significant roles with exposure to bank businesses and operations.

Mr. Sunder is a Bachelor in Commerce and Economics, Chartered Accountant, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Inter Company Secretary and Check Point Certified Security Administrator (CCSA); and is certified in the Enterprise-Wide Risk Management Program from Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Manila. He is the recipient of a distinctive recognition from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), who named him ‘Best Professional Achiever’ for 2011.

Rajkumar Shriwastav (Chapter Advisor) is Partner at SK Vestigium LLP and Advisor for Protiviti India Member Firm. He is a former law enforcement officer. Rajkumar has worked with Deloitte, EY, and Citibank NA. He has a total of over 31 years of investigation experience. He is a decorated officer, honored with Insignia, multiple rewards and commendations while serving with Indian Police.

In his role, he has managed and led high-profile fraud investigation assignments in sectors such as banking, aviation, entertainment, automobile, retail, and other industries. He has played a significant role in pioneering asset tracing investigation. He provides legal and law enforcement support to his clients. He has assisted his clients with workplace sexual harassment investigation cases in India and abroad.

He, along with his colleague in July 2018, founded a Partnership Firm SK Vestigium LLP. He assisted Fortune500 companies, MNCs, and large local companies with various forensic solutions. While working with EY as one of the Directors, he has successfully set up a high performing team with diverse competencies for fraud investigation and asset tracing. He played a vital role in setting up a vigilance framework during his tenure as Vice President-Vigilance at Citibank NA. During his tenure with Deloitte, he had set up field investigation teams across India. While serving with law enforcement agencies, he unearthed high profile scams, investigated corruption & bribery cases, and successfully secured convictions against the perpetrators indulged in such misconducts.

Manoranjan Mohapatra (Board Member) is a Certified Financial Crime Specialist (CFCS). He also holds AML certifications from International Compliance Association (ICA) as well as IIBF, India. He was associated with KPMG, EY, Societe Generale, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI Bank as well as AXA, at various capacities in the FCC and AML domain, for close to 12 years. He has worked extensively on KYC, CDD, Sanctions Compliance, Transaction Review, Risk Consulting, AML Audit, and various aspects of Regulatory Compliance. He is also a trainer on these subjects, and also leads quality controls and audit engagements.

Nitesh Ramakrishnan (Board Member) is Ethics and Compliance Lead (India) at Google Operations Center. In his role, Nitesh is responsible for design, develop, implement, and monitor compliance programs for Google Operations Center India and ensure the effective implementation of these programs.

Before taking on his role at Google Operations Center, Nitesh worked at leading global financial institutions like JP Morgan, Western Union, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Accenture. Nitesh, has more than 20 years of experience in providing oversight in the areas of Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Corruption and OFAC/Sanctions laws.

Prashant Sinha (Board Member) has diverse experience more than 18 years in fields of Retail Banking Business, Internal Audit and Anti Money Laundering. He was associated with HDFC Bank and YES Bank and is currently working as Principal Officer & Head of Anti-Money Laundering unit (AML) at Bandhan Bank Ltd.

He is a qualified MBA in Finance, holding global prestigious certifications from ACFCS (Certified Financial Crime Specialist), CGSS (Certified Global Sanction Specialist) , ACAMS (Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist), and other international certification like CBFP (Certified Bitcoin Finance Professional), Trade Based Money Laundering (TBML-ACAMS), Anti-Human Trafficking (ACAMS), CASINO (AGLC-Canada), and domestic certifications in CAMI (Certified Anti Money Laundering Investigator), Foreign Exchange (IIBF), KYC/AML(IIBF) etc.

Being an enthusiastic learner himself, he is constantly continuing his education and advocates professionals to broaden their knowledge, cross function, and develop a strong compliance culture across all business operations. He possesses leadership, analytical, and problem-solving skills which help him to ensure effective compliance.