Urvesh Govind

Senior Operations, Governance, Risk and Transformation professional with 25+ years of multinational financial-services experience across Payments, Treasury, Cash Management, Commercial Cards, Trade Operations and Operations Governance. Proven track record of managing complex operational environments, strengthening governance and controls, improving processes, leveraging automation and data, and coordinating cross-functional stakeholders to deliver sustainable business outcomes. Experienced in translating business requirements into practical operating processes, identifying operational risks and control gaps, defining improvements, coordinating implementation and monitoring outcomes.

Strong capability across operations governance, risk and controls, process optimisation, automation, management information, data quality, third-party management and stakeholder engagement. Demonstrated success delivering measurable operational improvements across regional and multinational environments, including achieving more than 80% automation of reconciliation activities across 23 MEA markets and automating Treasury operational reporting across 12 African markets. Experienced in working with senior stakeholders across Operations, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data Privacy and external service providers to deliver change while maintaining appropriate governance and controls.

Brings a hands-on, commercially aware and execution-focused approach, with the ability to manage competing priorities, facilitate stakeholder alignment, identify vulnerabilities and establish practical processes, policies and controls that support efficient, compliant and sustainable operations.

SSA Cards Operations Head & TTS Operations Governance & Enablement - Citibank N.A. South Africa - South Africa

(2020-06)

• Lead regional Operations governance and enablement, identifying opportunities to improve processes, controls, data quality, service delivery and operational efficiency across SSA and MEA.
• Partner with Operations, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Data Privacy and third-party stakeholders to understand business requirements, assess impacts, manage dependencies and agree practical solutions.
• Prepare management information and governance reporting using operational data, risk trends and performance indicators to support decision-making, prioritisation and oversight.
• Lead the MEA Card Destruction strategy from current-state assessment and process mapping through business requirements, outsourcing governance, operating-model design and implementation.
• Regulatory reporting and data-quality enhancements through process redesign, stakeholder engagement, testing and implementation follow-through.
• Support global Payments and Maintenance teams on process harmonisation, governance standardisation, continuous improvement and operating-model initiatives across regional and global environments.

Operations Control Officer - Citibank N.A. South Africa - South Africa

(2014-03 - 2020-05)

• Performed control testing, Manager Control Assessments (MCA) and operational risk assessments across multiple functions, identifying control gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Analysed operational issues and recurring exceptions, performing root-cause analysis and tracking remediation actions through to closure.
• Produced operational risk and management information, analysing trends, control results and recurring issues to support governance and management decisions.
• Led reconciliation automation across 23 MEA markets, achieving more than 80% automation and reducing manual processing and associated operational risk.
• Supported end-to-end audit readiness, coordinating evidence, documentation, responses and resolution of audit queries.

Treasury Operations Cluster Supervisor - Citibank N.A. South Africa - South Africa

(2009-11 - 2014-02)

• Supervised Treasury Operations supporting 12 African markets, covering payment processing, reconciliations, controls, governance and service delivery.
• Led RCSAs across Treasury processes, identifying control weaknesses and emerging risks and driving timely remediation.
• Conducted incident investigations and root-cause analysis to identify control weaknesses and implement sustainable improvements.
• Automated Treasury operational reporting across 12 African markets, replacing manual reporting with consolidated dashboards and improving management visibility.
• Led client transition to Citi’s digital confirmation platform, improving turnaround times, operational efficiency and client experience.

Trade Operations Head - Citibank N.A. South Africa - South Africa

(2007-10 - 2009-10)

• Managed Trade Operations across in-country teams and outsourced processing centres, with responsibility for operational risk, service delivery and control effectiveness.
• Led end-to-end Trade Operations across Collections, Letters of Credit, Supply Chain Financing and Bank Guarantees.
• Analysed Letter of Credit processing, identified bottlenecks and implemented process improvements and end-to-end document tracking to reduce delays and strengthen controls.
• Seconded to a strategic outsourcing partner to identify operational improvements, contributing to implementation of dual-screen processing and improved efficiency.

International Assignment - Citi London PLC - London

(2007-04 - 2007-09)

• Selected for a six-month international assignment supporting planning, process design, knowledge transfer and training for Citi outsourcing activities across 18 countries.
• Contributed to regional operating-model transformation, outsourcing governance, knowledge transfer and process standardisation.

Early Career – Cash Management and Payments Operations (Automated Payments Officer, Cash Officer, Collections Clerk and Funds Transfer Clerk) - Citibank N.A. South Africa - South Africa

(2000-08 - 2007-03)

• Progressed through increasingly senior roles across Cash Management and Payments Operations: Automated Payments Officer, Cash Officer, Collections Clerk and Funds Transfer Clerk.
• Processed domestic and cross-border payments including EFT, RTGS and SWIFT and foreign-currency transactions, ensuring adherence to controls and service-level agreements.
• Supervised outsourced payment-processing teams and supported service delivery, reconciliations, client service and operational control.

Assistant Accountant - Charlie Parkers (Pty) Ltd

(2000-05 - 2000-08)

• Supported reconciliations, financial administration and reporting.

Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) - University of the Witwatersrand (1999)

National Diploma - Nature Conservation - University of South Africa (2017)

Senior Certificate (Matric) - Nirvana High School (1995)