Candidate Profile

Pradyut Shukla
DOB: 01st Jan 1985
Saket 89/235 13th lane, Bangur Park, Rishra, Hooghly-712248
Tel No: +256-756-488418 (Uganda)/ +91-8961110455(India)
Email- Pradyut_Shukla@yahoo.com
Skype-pradyutshukla
To be part of management of a Dynamic, Growth oriented Financial Organisation/Bank, in order to optimise my creative potential and to use my experience to meet the Business Challenges for achieving corporate goals. Be ever open to learning and equipping myself to be ready for career growth and taking the organization towards the never ending destination of growth with “excellence” as the only benchmark, with full integrity and compliance with the business control guidelines of the organisation.
Head –SME Banking, June 2020-Current
Diamond Trust Bank Ltd, Kampala, Uganda
Head –SME Banking, April 2019-March 2020
Orient Bank Ltd, Kampala, Uganda—Job Profile
To provide overall leadership and custody over the SME team, portfolio and resources in delivery & implementation of business strategy in line with set business goals & targets.
 Supporting the bank in drawing up and implementation of business strategy aligned to the SME sector.
 Providing effective leadership and direction to the team members to ensure execution of business strategy and achievement of the financial and other objectives identified in the strategic plan within agreed timelines.
 Driving the team for NTB acquisitions and sustaining accounts in the SME sector of the market, to achieve optimal balance sheet & off balance sheet targets. CAREER OBJECTIVE WORK EXPERIENCE
 Monitoring & evaluating performance of team members and ensure ongoing value creation for the bank.
 Conducting regular customer visits with the team to review, inspect & assess business operations & collaterals on an ongoing basis.
 Review applications for credit facilities for onward approval by the bank’s credit committees.
 Overseeing management of the assigned credit portfolio for the team & monitoring the quality of existing credit relationships on a continuous basis.
 Monitoring & tracking Risk Triggers, covenants for all credit facilities availed.
 Initiate & carry out recovery action on deteriorating, watch listed & non-performing credit facilities.
 Oversaw the development and implementation of our digital transformation strategy based on financial inclusion, innovation, and customer centricity; improve customer acquisition and engagement by leveraging digital capabilities.  Drive bank wide Collaboration between Wholesale bank and Retail Bank.
Achievements:-
 Participated in initiation and successfully integration of the SME & Corporate banking into Commercial Banking.
 Successfully Grown the Advances from UGX 50 Bn from April’19 to UGX 125 bn in March’20 along with a liabilities growth from UGX 110 Bn from April’19 to UGX 150 Bn in March’20
 I also instituted an industry leading recruiting campaign to employ Relationship Managers from outside banking and implement learning methods from other customer-centric industries.
Head of Branch Business, Nov 2018-March 2019
Orient Bank Ltd, Kampala, Uganda—Job Profile
To provide overall oversight to Branch Managers of all branches and ensure exceptional customer service, business growth and branch profitability in line with the overall corporate strategy.
Liaising with other business heads to ensure that branches get adequate and timely support from the support functions.
 Provided strong leadership for all aspects of Retail/Branch Banking product delivery in Uganda.
 Leaded in all critical tasks including strategy development, staff management, and creation of business, cost management, and profit maximisation roadmaps.
 Provided strategic direction and foster excellent working relationship with key regulatory bodies, financial institutions, and strategic players.
 I also led efforts oversee business process re-engineering project while serving as Head of Branch Business.
 Ensured that we exceeded revenue and profitability targets by establishing branch network optimization framework.
 Supported in strategy development, business plans creation, performance reviews, risk management framework development, risk models, and program implementation
 Driving the team to implement digital banking services and products. I also ensured digitization projects were completed on time and within scope of budget (Fast Pay Wallet & Visa Cards).
Achievements:-
 Successfully grown the Retail Branch Liabilities from UGX 380 bn from Nov’18 to UGX 395 bn in March’19 & Retail Branch Advances growth from UGX 65 bn from Nov’18 to UGX 78 bn in March’19.
 Successfully grown the Bancassurance portfolio across branches by registering–
389 Life Insurance policies worth premium of UGX 409,881,745 (Nov’18 –Mar’19)
 Participated in the initiation and implementation of Orient Medilife Scheme under which 257 Policies were registered across branches after launch in Jan’19 till Mar’19.
 Achieved the revenue target on Forex Income for the branches for Q1 (Jan’19-Mar’19).
 Mentored several service leader’s/operations manager’s into Branch Manger’s role.
 Closed multiple unprofitable branches, opened new branches in strategic locations which became profitable and revamped consumer delivery model by reducing headcount and achieving greater productivity per Branch Manager /Relationship Manager
 Implemented innovative performance measuring solution based on ‘balanced scorecard’ approach.
 Decreased costs by 20%.
 Awarded Promotion from Head of Branch Business to Head of SME.
Branch Manager (Main Branch), June 2017- Oct.2018
Orient Bank Ltd, Kampala, Uganda—Job Profile
Branch Manager for Main Branch, spearheading a team of 35 personals. Generating Revenue through Trade Finance Solutions like LC’s, BG’s, Import Loans and Forex.
To provide overall branch leadership by managing performance of the branch in order to achieve the Financial, Customer Service, People and Operational objectives of the bank’s retail business.
Oversee the preparation of the branch’s annual budget and monitor its implementation to minimize overruns/variances
 Administer the the day to day running of the branch in line with policy
 Responsible for Branch performance reports for Senior management reviews
 Conduct monthly review of performance levels against approved budgets
 Balance & mitigate risk, with customer value.
 Maintain relationship with key stakeholders through physical visits with team leaders
and officers to monitor service quality, clients response to agreements, timelines and milestones, and discuss proposals and financial advisory services.
 Regularly appraise the activities and functions of the Branch and make recommendations for improvements .
 Manage all staff in the Branch to achieve increased value creation, volume of business and enhanced profitability for the branch.
 Prepare and agree career development plans with subordinate staff in line with stipulated career and performance management policies and procedures.
 Recommend and participate in the review of the Bank policies and practices impacting the group.
Achievements:-
 Successfully grown the liabilities from UGX 138 bn from June 2017 to UGX 162 bn in Sept 2018. Advances growth from UGX 17.9 bn from June 2017 to UGX 27 bn in Sept 2018.
 Achieved the revenue target of the branch in Kampala for the year 2018.
 Recognized by ED/MD for special contribution towards Treasury income.
 Awarded promotion from Branch Manager to Head of Branch Business.
Branch Manager, Oct. 2013 –May 2017
Crane Bank Ltd/DFCU Bank-Kampala, Uganda —Job Profile
 Providing competent leadership to the bank staff at the branch
 Formulate, monitor and control the performance of the branch’s budget in line with the budget guidelines & Business plan
 Plan, review and monitor the growth and quality of the branch loan portfolio in line with the set targets
 Develop, implement and review systems for customer relationship management in line with the corporate strategy, and generating revenues from Trade Finance/Forex , Credit Card and other services
 Plan, manage and monitor staff development and performance for the branch
 Plan for the acquisition and account for branch assets & resources in line with bank policy and Review, coordinate and evaluate performance of staff at the branch
 Safeguard and promote the Bank’s brand, products and services and Ensure compliance to bank policies, procedures and internal controls at the branch for prevention of frauds and thefts.
 Accountable for annual sales targets and maintenance of a healthy balance sheet for the branch
 Implement total quality management in service delivery and
 Account for resources in line with business and guidelines
Achievements:-
 Successfully added 35 Current accounts in one having large Trade and Forex transactions with floats of over 4 billion Ugx.
 Achieved the revenue target of the branch in Kampala for the year 2013/14/15 successfully
 Was rated as one of the best performing Branch Manager and was successful in preventing many banking frauds during my tenure at Kampala.
Branch Operations Manager, Sept.2012 – Sept.2013
Crane Bank Ltd-Kampala, Uganda —Job Profile
 Overall branch supervision in operations and admin issues
 Ensuring compliance with banking rules, regulations, and procedures
 Handling the branch audit ,review and reversals in office accounts, sundry and suspense reconciliation
 Review of branch operations report and registers
 Verifying and authorizing account opening forms as per standard KYC guidelines
 Ensuring high quality customer service ensuring full compliance with control and processes
 Handling priority customers and fulfilling their transactional needs
Achievements:-
Was rated as one of the Best Operations Manager on all the above parameters by the Executive Director and was elevated to the position of Branch Manager.
Deputy Manager of Operations-, June 2011 – Aug.2012
Axis Bank Ltd, India —Job Profile
 Overall branch supervision in operational and administrative issues.
 Monitoring service qualities on a periodic basis & customer relationship management
 Handling priority customers and fulfilling their transactional needs (e.g.-RTGS, NEFT, Inward & Outward Remittances, LC, BG)
 Review of branch operations reports and registers.
 Handling Internal & Regulatory Audit.
 Review & reversals in office accounts; sundry and suspense reconciliation
 Ensuring compliance with banking rules, regulations, and procedures
 Supervising all types of clearing activities (MICR, ECS and Referrals)
Achievements:-
Was rated as Best rated employee and Operations Manager in the Branch.
Assistant TSM / Operations Manager, Sept.2007 – May 2011
Standard Chartered Bank, India —Job Profile
 Overall branch supervision in operational and administrative issues.
 Overall in charge for maintaining required operational / compliance standard in the branch.
 Preparation of periodic management reports (Anti Money Laundering, Key Risk Indicator, Cash MIS, etc.) and other regulatory returns
 One of the Responsible Persons (RP) of the branch under ORMA framework.
 Ensure compliance with these policies and procedures on an ongoing basis — KYC/CDD/EDD and Money laundering prevention.
 Handling Internal & Regulatory Audit.
 Manage or recommend workflow changes for greater efficiency
 Monitoring customer satisfaction survey ratings, net promoter score or any other survey/ feedback ratings taken from customers and ensure continuous improvement if below bench-mark, sustain and better quality service
Achievements:-
Provided exceptionally high standard of banking services to the customer on personalized basis. Received a certificate from CEO for exceptional service.
JAIIB (Junior Associate of Indian Institute of Banking) 2012
Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, India
Post Graduate Diploma – Customer Relationship Management 2010
Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, India
Bachelor of Science (Hons) 2006
Calcutta University, India
1. Age : 35 Years ( Date of Birth 1.1.1985)
2. Marital Status : Married
3. Health : Good
4. Attitude : Positive with capacity to work hard with integrity and deliver results
5. Nationality : Indian
6. Availability : Can join on one month notice.
7. Phone : +256756488418 email : pradyut_shukla@yahoo.com
REFERENCES : Will be provided on request.
I declare that above is a true and correct statement to best of my knowledge and belief.
Pradyut Shukla
EDUCATION GENERAL
Challenges
Solutions Presented
Impact
A
1.
2.
3.
Orient Bank Ltd
Regulatory
On joining the bank I observed that there was no proper policy and procedures to guide safe deposit locker operations. This would have serious regulatory punitive implications.
Business
The Retail segment was basically driven by Kwik Cash Loans, which were unsecured and with the recent launch of IFRS9 reporting, it was exposing the bank to a lot of provision requirement.
Due to delay in launch of Bancassurance, the Retail Segment was short of revenue generation.
Operational
I observed that the general Operations Manual, Policies and Procedures guiding the day to day retail operations and services were too old and not relevant in today’s banking scenario, thus leading to unnecessary delay in services and less customer satisfaction.
I volunteered to draft a formal policy and procedural guideline, for safe deposit locker operations in the bank. The draft was submitted to Risk Committee and further to the Board Members to approve it.
In the Retail Management Meeting, I proposed to change the strategy to focus on SME business and realignment of job roles of former RO’s to that of a Portfolio Manager’s with a portfolio for unmanaged retail clients. I also proposed to give them adequate credit training on small business loans so that they can be groomed into future Retails RM’s/SME RM’s.
I proposed in the Retail Management Meeting, to start a retail FX Challenge across branches.
To fix this broken window in the Retail Operations, I proposed to have a review of these policies and procedures and involve relevant departments to have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) thus enhancing service delivery. This involved me to take a lead and draft the changes and present it to the EXCO team to review for further submission to the Board.
This resulted in mitigating operational and regulatory risk, beforehand the internal audit or BOU audit.
The entire portfolio of unmanaged client after the micro-engagement by the Portfolio Manager’s effectively grew from UGX 21 Bn in Dec’17 to UGX 43.3 Bn in Sept ’18.
This resulted in boost of FX income and improved the NII of the bank. The major contribution was from my branch winning both the campaigns, doing a total FX business of $2.1 mn & $2.4 mn in back to back months.
The proposal of changes was approved and resulted in smooth operations and faster service delivery.
Challenges
Solutions Presented
Impact
B
1.
2.
Crane Bank Limited
Business
During my Stint as a BM in KYU Branch, I was having a challenge to increase my NII alongside with the increase in my liabilities which should be stable.
Operational
In CBL all the branches used to pass manual entries to cover their FCY positions (Long or Short). Due to negligence of some branches the entire retail side was showing a loss.
I along with my Regional Manager started the engagement with NCHE (National Council of Higher Education), in 2013 to open up collection account in our bank. After a rigorous follow-up of three years, finally the account was given to us.
In involvement with my Regional Manager and IT department, we rectified those entries and further in engagement with the IT consultants, we proposed and presented the automation part so that these errors can be mitigated.
This transformed the business of KYU Branch. Since all the students in Uganda are supposed to pay for NCHE, the amount of funds in Current Account deposit was huge and gave us also fee income, thus directly elevating our NII for the branch.
After a hard work and brainstorming of one month, finally the system was integrated with bank end automation of covering up the positions and resulted in correct valuation.