Q&A: How 4most’s Ram Ananth supported a Tier I UAE bank as Interim Head of Market Risk

Ram Ananth, 4most’s Head of Market Risk, recently completed a 3-month placement with one of our clients, a Tier I UAE bank, as their interim Head of Market Risk.

We caught up with Ram to find out more about the project, what he learnt, and his experience working in the UAE.

Q1. What were you working on?

I played a pivotal role in helping the bank transition to a new Risk & Treasury system. As part of this initiative, I helped define requirements and define/execute user acceptance testing (UAT) for trade migration across FX, Interest Rate and Fixed income portfolios, market data, reference data, limits setup/monitoring, margining, VaR calculations, counterparty credit risk calculations and BAU reporting.

The new Risk & Treasury system is more efficient and enables better trade booking, data acquisition, risk calculations, settlements, and financial reporting.

I was also:

• Helping the bank transition to new BAU processes.
• Responsible for ensuring daily risk reports were submitted in a timely manner.
• Submitting board reports for market risk, Interest Rate Risk in the banking book (IRRBB) and liquidity risk to the Asset & Liability Committee (ALCO).
• Helping the bank complete an FRTB impact study for their FX and Interest Rate portfolios, which was submitted to the CBUAE.
• The key person responding to model validation and internal audit queries to help the bank meet CBUAE Model Risk Management requirements.

Q2. What did you enjoy most?

I found it very enriching working in the UAE and getting to experience a different culture. I valued the learning opportunity getting to apply my 20+ years of global experience working on strategic initiatives within investment and wholesale banks and my strong knowledge of traded risk systems and methodologies within a new market such as the Middle East.

I really enjoyed working closely and developing strong relationships with the market risk, front office, finance, treasury operations, and technology teams.

My most notable memory was working with the team during the go-live weekend to migrate the entire trading book and transition to new BAU processes. We really had to band together to get everything over the line within the tight timeframe – the Emirati coffee was a welcomed treat during the final push!

After a successful implementation, it was lovely to get a thank you note from the Chief Risk Officer, Chief Financial Officer and the Head of Treasury for the hard work that went into the project.

Q3. What were the main things you learnt?

I gained insight into a different culture and the nuances of the UAE market. The experience further emphasised the importance of effectively engaging with different teams across the client as opposed to operating in a silo.

Thinking end-to-end and seeing the bigger picture when migrating to a new system is vital. Change takes time and processes must be properly documented and embedded over time covering data acquisition, calculations and BAU processes across the front office, risk, finance, and Treasury operations.

What I also learned is that following a robust change lifecycle and evidencing is important when covering requirements definition, implementation, testing and production deployment. Also, catering to the size of the bank and its trading portfolio, local regulatory and business requirements is important.

Q4. Outside of work, what are your best memories of Dubai?

My most notable memories of Dubai are going to the Arabian Tea house in the Al Seef heritage souk to have a traditional Emirati breakfast, the tour of Jumeirah mosque, the desert safari, Walkers restaurant in Dubai, bargaining to buy tailored suits in Baniyas square, taking in the splendours of the gold souk and the cinema experience with Karak chai and Masala corn. And yes, taking in the view from the top of the Burj Khalifa was special.

It was lovely to start my last day in Dubai with a celebration of the UAE national day, having the traditional Emirati breakfast and then having lunch at Walkers restaurant with my colleagues from 4most Nicoleta Remmlinger, Jarred Lloyd, Aakash Gupta and Piyush Goel.

The UAE is highly vibrant and a melting pot for different cultures. The people are very welcoming, and I was touched by their hospitality. I look forward to being back in the region and adding value to more of our clients!