BharatPe Group announced a new addition to its leadership team with the appointment of Aparna Kuppuswamy as its Chief Risk Officer.
A seasoned leader with almost 3 decades of experience in the Consumer Banking Industry with extensive expertise in managing portfolios across all major product lines including credit cards, mortgages, and unsecured personal loans. Aparna will be leading the risk portfolio across the BharatPe Group of companies, including the merchant and consumer businesses. She will be working closely with the CFO and interim CEO, Nalin Negi, to further build a robust lending vertical at BharatPe, the statement said.
Aparna is one of the highly respectable professionals in the banking and financial services industry. Prior to joining BharatPe, Aparna was the Chief Risk Officer at SBI Cards for 14+ years, where she led a number of key projects. Under her able leadership, the company’s portfolio grew by more than 20X. She was also a part of the leadership team that took SBI Cards public. Aparna managed the entire spectrum of risks facing the company in a fast changing and unpredictable environment. She also defined the risk appetite framework for the company in partnership with frontline business and operational groups as well as working closely with the Risk Management Committee of the Board. She also ensured that Credit, Operational, Fraud, Regulatory and Information security risks are defined, measured, reported, and monitored closely. Aparna also managed the Technology Risk function through the CISO organization by managing the physical and cyber security policies and practices. She also worked extensively on improving the security architecture and posture of the company.
Prior to working with SBI Cards, Aparna was Director, Credit Policy, at Ameriprise Financial. She has also held leadership roles at ABN AMRO Bank and Bank of America. Aparna is a Masters in Finance & Control from the University of Delhi.
Commenting on the appointment, Nalin Negi, CFO and interim CEO, BharatPe said, “ At BharatPe, we are committed to addressing the US$ 380bn credit gap for MSMEs and small merchants. In the coming months, we will aggressively focus on building the lending business across Bharat as well as roll out a range of credit products for our merchant partners and consumers. Aparna with her in-depth understanding of all facets of risk strategy, credit policy and portfolio management, as well as extensive industry and product knowledge, will play a vital role in the next phase of our growth story as well as helping us in becoming IPO ready. Additionally, Aparna’s understanding of the consumer side of financial services will help us build cutting-edge products that are not only relevant, but also are risk aversive. Lastly, her expertise in managing the technology risk will ensure we build highly secure products for our merchant partners and consumers. On behalf of the leadership team at BharatPe, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Aparna.”
Amit Jain, who is currently the Chief Risk Officer of BharatPe will be working closely with Aparna and will be investing more of his time on collections and underwriting, from a merchant standpoint, a statement said.
Added Aparna, “BharatPe’s success story in the fintech industry is a case study in itself. In just 4+ years, the company has emerged as one of the biggest flag bearers of digital payments and B2B lending in the country. Today, it has an entrenched network of over 1 crore merchants in 400+ cities. The company has also done phenomenal work in facilitating credit to merchants – with over Rs. 8000 crores worth of loans facilitated to lakhs of merchants across the country. I am really excited to be a part of the promising organization and spearhead the risk and credit strategy for the BharatPe Group of companies. I look forward to working with the team to build new products, that will make a huge impact on millions of unbanked and underserved businesses and play a key role in making India a truly Digital economy.”
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