Ramesh Pillai - CEO and Group Managing Director of Friday Concepts

Ramesh Pillai is the Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director of Friday Concepts, a regional BCM, Risk Management, Governance, and Compliance boutique consultancy. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors and the Chief Examiner of the International Institute of Enterprise Risk Professionals. Ramesh is also the former Risk Management Adviser to the Public Trustee and one of the largest fund managers in the Region as well as to the largest Islamic fund manager in the Region. He is also a nominee Director for a Regional Central Bank. Ramesh holds a Bachelor of Economics with Accountancy (Honours) degree from Loughborough University in the UK. As part of his degree course, Ramesh specialised in Economics and Banking in general and Islamic Banking in particular.

A Fellow (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) as well as he Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), a Certified Risk Professional (CRP), and a certified Enterprise Risk Manager (ERM), Ramesh was also a Regional Director for the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and was also instrumental in the creation of the local national chapter of the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA).

Ramesh started his career with Price Waterhouse’s Financial Institutions specialism in London gaining experience in Audit, Consultancy and Corporate Finance assignments. Succeeding the seven years there, he went on to become the Director of Finance and Administration at Picker International Ltd in London. In 1994, he spent a year as the Chief Financial Officer of Rank Video Services (Europe) Limited before accepting a more challenging job experience through an international assignment. Ramesh was handling the responsibilities of a few roles and travelling between Malaysia and Indonesia as the Acting Regional Financial Controller cum Senior Regional Financial Analyst as well as the Indonesian Financial Controller as well as Deputy Country Head for PowerGen International.

Ramesh was then headhunted by Citibank where he headed the Credit Administration and Portfolio Management functions before accepting a position in a National Asset Management Company as the General Manager of the Risk Management Division. There, Ramesh was responsible for establishing the Enterprise Risk Management function and Risk Management Policy as well as formulating and documenting the various procedures and policies relating to the Operations of the Company. During his tenure at the National Asset Management Company, Ramesh spent a year on secondment to a Regional Central Bank where he was involved in heading a national interest project working closely with the Central Bank’s staff in general and the Bank Regulations, Bank Supervision and Islamic Banking teams in particular. He was also involved in presentations to the National Syariah Advisory Council in an advisory capacity.

Following his assignment in at the Central Bank, Ramesh joined moved back into the Banking sector where he was the Chief Risk Officer for a regional Conventional and Islamic Bank. His responsibilities included guiding and co-ordinating the group’s Operational and Enterprise Risk Management initiatives. Ramesh has published articles in international publications, presented various papers on Risk Management in general and Enterprise Risk Management in particular, Corporate Governance and Bank restructuring issues at National, Regional and International forums and is currently writing a book on Enterprise Risk Management.