Ranjitha Thirumalai
Birmingham,United Kingdom
Summary
Financial Crime & Fraud Manager with expertise in developing and executing fraud prevention strategies and ensuring regulatory compliance in banking. Skilled in leading cross-functional teams to strengthen control frameworks and enhance risk mitigation efforts. Proficient in data analytics and BI development, optimizing fraud detection and operational efficiency. Demonstrated success in advising senior leadership and implementing digital fraud strategies that maintain effective risk management while enhancing customer experience.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Manager, Forensic
KPMG Lower Gulf Limited
Dubai
08.2021 - 05.2025
- Led remediation of Counter-Fraud Framework addressing regulatory inspection findings, boosting control maturity by 40% and enhancing audit readiness.
- Developed and implemented anti-fraud strategies across multiple banks, closing control gaps by 25% and aligning with global best practices in financial crime and fraud risk management.
- Collaborated with product, risk, cyber, intelligence units and compliance teams to embed robust fraud controls and sanctions screening at key client journey points.
- Optimized SAS EFMS alert dashboards, reducing false positives by 10% and improving transaction monitoring detection rates by 15% through advanced data analytics.
- Designed rule-based fraud detection systems using SAS EFMS and IBM SaferPayments; integrated ThreatMetrix and BioCatch for advanced behavioral analytics and fraud prevention.
- Conducted regulatory gap assessments and compliance remediation, delivering enhanced adherence to banking regulations across financial institutions.
- Built data models and real-time dashboards with Power BI, Tableau, and Python/R to support fraud operations decisions and suspicious activity reports (SARs) analysis.
- Shortened forensic investigation resolution by 25% using analytics, supporting cross-functional teams across GCC.
- Developed in-house case management tool, improving case tracking efficiency and facilitating effective case management.
- Delivered fraud awareness training to 500+ staff, achieving 95% compliance improvement post-training and strengthening regulatory compliance culture.
- Advised C-level executives on fraud risk mitigation strategies, securing buy-in through actionable, data-driven recommendations and stakeholder engagement.
- Enhanced FCPA review process efficiency by 80% through automated risk-scoring dashboards and rule-based detection.
- Provided audit-ready solutions leveraging expert knowledge of banking regulations and emerging financial crime trends.
- Drove end-to-end digital fraud strategy in partnership with product and operations teams, maximizing fraud detection while minimizing customer friction.
Solution Developer / Business Intelligence Engineer
Datasemantics
Dubai
01.2018 - 08.2021
- Identified and analysed fraud patterns, creating reporting solutions for compromised accounts.
- Designed data governance reports across multiple regions, enabling BI-driven insights for key units.
- Developed secure, self-service BI applications linked to data warehouses, enforcing access controls.
- Enhanced BI project delivery times by 20% through Agile methodologies and collaboration with international teams.
- Created financial data models using core banking and ERP systems to meet strategic reporting needs.
- Participated in cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of BI systems across all operational areas.
- Supported clients with implementation using various tools, including Excel, Power BI, QlikView, Tableau and SQL.
Senior Analyst
Capgemini Limited
Mumbai
11.2015 - 01.2018
- Led development life-cycle of BI applications, enhancing project efficiency and timely delivery.
- Created QlikView dashboards to support cross-functional teams, enabling informed decision-making with clear KPIs.
- Developed self-service BI applications, empowering business users with direct access to data.
- Streamlined report generation through automation using VB Scripting and macros in QlikView, reducing production time by 15%.
- Analyzed and resolved data discrepancies, improving data integrity and quality.
- Ensured compliance with security protocols by managing section access for dashboards.
- Received 'Rising Star Award' for exceptional contributions to insights and data management.
Education
Bachelor of Engineering - Information Science
JSS Academy Of Technical Education
05.2011 - 05.2015
Skills
- Financial crime and fraud risk assessment
- Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing
- Regulatory compliance and remediation
- Regulatory gap analysis and audit readiness
- Suspicious activity report generation
- Fraud detection systems
- Transaction monitoring and alert management
- Data visualization and analytics (Excel, Power BI, SQL, Tableau, QlikView, Qlik Sense, Python, R)
- Automated risk scoring and reporting
- Fraud prevention strategy development
- Forensic investigation analytics
- Control framework design
- Digital fraud strategy implementation
- Fraud trend analysis
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Stakeholder engagement and management
- Team leadership and development
- Fraud awareness training delivery
- Change management and process improvement
Certification
- Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Association of Certified Fraud Examiners August 2024
- Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Certified, Microsoft
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Manager, Forensic
KPMG Lower Gulf Limited
08.2021 - 05.2025
Solution Developer / Business Intelligence Engineer
Datasemantics
01.2018 - 08.2021
Senior Analyst
Capgemini Limited
11.2015 - 01.2018
Bachelor of Engineering - Information Science
JSS Academy Of Technical Education
05.2011 - 05.2015