ABDUL HAKIM ALI

Primary finance contact for portfolio of significant bank projects: IT Remediation, Data, T&D & Obsolescence, operational costs circa £100m.

• Thrive in developing strong trusting relationships with key stakeholders, delivering high standards of customer service consistently, constantly mindful of sustaining an exemplary reputation across the bank.
• Foster collaboration to liaise effectively with project owners allowing close scrutiny of project spend; improving accuracy of forecasts, enhancing funding risk assessments.
• Provide expert training on key financial metrics for non-finance audiences to increase overall financial awareness, ultimately helping cross-departmental performance and driving accuracy.
• Display superior performance and dedication, staying composed and focused during periods of intense workloads and short deadlines.
• Highly effective in the management and fulfilment of all financial responsibilities during project phase; Monthly cost recognition, conducting finance approvals, understanding and translating complex requests, conveying difficult messages with great empathy.

Responsible for reporting an 'allocated' view of Santander UK Operations cost circa £2.4bn, single point of contact for any form of cost allocations within the bank.

• Manage negotiations with key stakeholders across the organisation setting agreed standard set of rules for unspecified costs.
• Maintain complex database of rules, anticipating impacts of changes brought about by structural re-organisations, ensuring reporting always up-to-date and accurate.
• Generate cost performance reports suited to the needs of different business and product areas, enabling profitability analysis driving key business decisions.
• Key Achievement: Identified opportunities to streamline a critical month-end process. Coordinated cross-departmental collaboration for improved workflow by transferring responsibilities to a different team more suited to perform the task; eliminated tension between the teams, aligned responsibilities better, ultimately benefited the wider stakeholders due to better efficiency.

Brief Summary: Expert in the end-to-end accounting process across three of the most significant payment areas of the bank; ‘Chaps & International Transfers,’ ‘Cash & ATMs’ and ‘Cheques.’ Oversight of 'Santander Operations', reviewing internal control accounts. Regularly challenged operational areas, collaboratively resolving high priority customer impacting issues within agreed SLA’s. High adherence to SOX controls, maintaining good relationships with external auditors. Fostered a culture of transparency in reporting.

Brief Summary: Consolidation of the retail bank 3/5yr Plan and forecast for P&L circa £3.8bn. Regularly reviewed the impact on profitability driven by new product propositions. Analysed key Budgeting / Planning metrics for use in EXCO and Board Presentations, regularly collaborated with marketing and finance teams. Continuous assessment against the bank’s overall strategy and impact on customer numbers. Key Achievements: Identified control deficiencies that almost understated £20bn of assets in the forecast. Implemented new models with controls to avoid misleading senior stakeholders.

Brief Summary: Income analyst for a significant range of asset and liability products such as Unsecured Personal Loans, Banking & Savings, and Mortgages. Provided insight to monthly variances vs Budget and Forecast for group reporting.

Brief Summary: Responsible for posting all accounting entries onto the general ledger systems - WALKER for the whole of Santander UK. Repetitive, manual intense work load required a high level of determination and good organisational skills.

Brief Summary: Challenging yet very rewarding role where excellent listening, communication and interpersonal skills were delivered to achieve the best outcomes for both the customer and Santander. Maintained a personal yet professional approach with customers to facilitate smooth transactions and debt collection efforts.

Brief Summary: Regular face-to-face interaction with customers, building long lasting trustful relationships. Obtained thorough yet essential understanding of all retail banking products. Provided excellent service at all times and expressed care, patience and empathy when handling customer interactions for a personalised experience.