Amran Ismail
APAC Lead for Business and Operational Resiliency
Singapore
Summary
UK-educated IT and business professional with 17 years' Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery experience in the financial services and IT industries in Asia Pacific. Highly skilled in developing recovery strategies for business and IT systems with significant involvement in operational risk management. In-depth knowledge and experience in Enterprise Risk Management, Crisis Management, Incident Management, Emergency Response and Environmental Health & Safety. A critical thinker with excellent problem solving and communication skills who is able to interact with people of all levels.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
Work History
APAC Lead for Business and Operational Resiliency
Wells Fargo
01.2023 - Current
- Responsible for coordinating regions' Business Resiliency response during live events
- SME for Business Resiliency, represent the region at internal meetings and drive/implement appropriate change, in line with International and the Enterprise
- Responsible for regional Operational Resilience projects to establish a framework for the ongoing management of important business services in line with regulatory expectations
- Responsible for business as usual Operational Resilience processes
- Responsible for the maintenance of Operational Resilience Self-assessment documentation and ensuring regular review and approval by relevant legal entities
- Involved in regional operational resiliency internal/external audit assessments and owned corrective actions and partner with the International Shared Service Leads to prioritize and perform remediations
- Ensure APAC Legal Entities are fully aware of and are continually complying with all relevant Control Standards set by Wells Fargo
- Identify, assess, and mitigate operational risks, ensuring alignment with organizational risk appetite
- Reporting of KRI metrics to relevant governance committees
- Successfully managed and coordinated WF HK participation in the streetwide 2023 HK WISE Exercise
- Developed APAC OR Framework for Legal Entities in Hong Kong and Singapore to comply with regulatory requirements
- Produced OR Self-Assessment report for Legal Entities in Hong Kong and Singapore
APAC Lead for Business and Technology Resiliency, Cybersecurity Technology & Control
J.P. Morgan
08.2018 - 01.2023
- Managed both Business and Technology Resiliency for Cybersecurity & Technology Controls (CTC) team
- Ensure stability, capacity and resiliency of JPM products and emerging industry trends
- Worked in tandem with the internal team, as well as technologists and innovators across the bank global network, ability to identify threats, provide intelligent analysis and positive actions will stop adversaries and strengthen bank's data
- Developed and managed Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery, Resiliency and Crisis Management plans for the Cybersecurity & Technology Controls organization
- Maintained and communicated the Continuity Planning and Technology Recovery Testing schedules for Cybersecurity & Technology Controls applications to relevant stakeholders
- Provided monthly Cybersecurity business and technology reporting resiliency metrics to the respective compliance teams
- Resiliency & Recovery Product Lead provided guidance on standards, metrics and procedures
- Managed and executed technology resilience test program for critical business locations in the region including results reporting and issue tracking
- Global Technology Resiliency Lead for CTC
- Implemented business resiliency plans restructuring for teams within CTC
- Developed Cyber Security Response playbook for CTC
Senior BCM Manager (Vice President 2), Group BCM
United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB)
11.2014 - 11.2017
- As a Senior BCM Relationship Manager provided guidance and direction to an assigned clientele (Banking Group and various LOBs) such as UOB Global Markets & Investment Management, Global Markets Operation Centre, Group Wholesale Banking (both front and back office) and UOB Private Banking
- Provided leadership for the Group Crisis Management program and support Group BCM Committee with quarterly meetings
- Ensure an effective enterprise-wide BCM governance, assurance, risk management and compliance were consistent with general regulatory requirements and industry best practices/standards
- Planned, coordinated and facilitated business continuity/crisis management exercises that were conducted internally as well as at industry level
- Annually reviewed and updated Group BCM Policies, Guidelines and SOP
- Reviewed and assessed the enterprise operational risk framework and strategy; provided recommendation of appropriate risks mitigation annually
- Annually trained BCM Champions and assisted business units in solving BCM audit points raised during an internal or external audit
- Provided annual BCM attestation to the board
- Partnered with ORM and IT to assess IT risk from business continuity perspective and developed mitigation strategies to comply to MAS TRM guidelines
- Partnered with IT Security team to develop Cyber Security Crisis Management Plan
- Partnered with ORM to conduct cyber threat scenario for CMT exercise
- Participated in an IT DR task force to assess and mitigate risk to produce an effective disaster recovery strategy
- Reviewed annual Key Risk Control Self-Assessment on BCM
- Developed enterprise business continuity risk assessment template and conducted the annual review
- Managed Crisis Information System project and implemented it across the Group
- Performed the Secretariat role for the Group BCM Committee
VP, Regional Head of Business Continuity Management, Asia
ING Bank N.V.
03.2013 - 10.2014
- Responsible for the overall Business Continuity Management program across branches in Asia
- Provided leadership to a BCM team member
- Owner of BCM policies and corporate minimum standards
- Led a successfully implementation of BCM program for Asia by working closely with each branch COO
- Worked with each business head and BC Coordinator in reviewing the business BCP plan and BIA
- Provided support to the Crisis Management Team in Singapore and other branches
- Conducted BCP exercise, CMT table-top exercise, call tree exercise, building evacuation exercise and awareness training for branches in Asia
- Worked with IT to ensure business users participating in the Global and Regional IT DR exercises
- Responsible for the strategic deployment of the operational risk and business continuity management framework
- Responsible in maintaining the incident management structure, crisis management plan, business continuity management program, and disaster recovery simulation exercises
- Worked closely with ORM for business unit monitoring & monthly reporting of KRI on continuity risks
- Centralised all Business Continuity functions from branches across Asia in Singapore
- Conducted risk and control assessments, assessing gross and residual risks across the branches in the region, undertaking root cause analysis, forming risk treatment strategies and control remediation plans
- Designed, implemented and tested an end-end BCM framework for the bank in compliance with local regulations & internal bank policies
- Represented ING in the IWE2014 Committee as a working member of the Post Exercise Assessment Team (PEAT)
- Managed the 2013 flood crisis in Manila and haze crisis in Singapore
AVP, Business Continuity Management
Barclays Investment Bank
10.2009 - 03.2013
- Responsible in providing specialist BCM Analysis and Administrative support to the BCM APAC team
- Supported regional and global BCM initiatives on an ad-hoc basis
- Acted as the subject matter expert for all work area recovery/disaster recovery questions and issues
- Provided ongoing support towards improving BCM Compliance metrics and Data Quality violation
- Consolidated and followed up with a number of the ongoing BCM Process Control Issues
- Organized and managed Work Area Recovery and Data Centre Recovery Tests within the APAC region
- Conducted post-test analysis and prepared reports to management
- Consolidated all 5 BCP sites in Singapore into one central location
- Managed together as a team for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami crisis in Japan
- Planned and managed end-end work area recovery of critical staff at the back up site
- Designed testing scenarios, test scripts, and conducted staff training and awareness
- Represented Barclays as a member in the MAS/ABS Business Continuity Management Working Group
- Represented Barclays in the IWE2011 Committee as a working member of the Exercise Development Team (EDT)
Business Continuity Manager, Singapore
ABN AMRO Bank N.V.
03.2008 - 01.2009
- Responsible in running the BCM program for Singapore branch
- Planned and coordinated the BCP exercise, call tree exercise, CMT table-top exercise, building power shutdown exercise and awareness program
- Reviewed and updated the BIA, BCP, Technical Recovery Plan and Telephone Call Tree for each Business Unit as well as the bank's CMT Plan, Risk Assessment and BCM strategy
- Performed risk analysis for functional areas to identify points of vulnerability, single points of failure and identified risk avoidance and mitigation strategies
- Worked closely with IT to develop/maintain DR plans for critical systems and applications
- Prepared status and management reports on each departmental continuity
- Conducted Business Continuity Risk Assessment
- Planned and led the IWE2008 Exercise for the bank ensuring full participation of the CMT in the exercise
- Implemented BCM Scorecard and heat maps to escalate and report BCM risk issues to senior management
- Developed and implemented Emergency Response, Incident & Crisis Management plans, with escalation procedures
- Developed Avian Flu Pandemic Framework for Singapore
- Conducted risk & control self-assessments (RCSA) for WM Operations, KYC & Client due diligence
- Developed BCM strategic transition plan for merger with Royal Bank of Scotland
- Planned and facilitated Crisis Management team training through table top exercises
Project Manager - Business Continuity and Resiliency Services
IBM
12.1999 - 03.2008
- Responsibilities included assisted customers to develop and provide consultancy on Business Continuity Plan, Disaster Recovery Plan and Crisis Management Plan
- Planned and coordinated annual business continuity and disaster recovery exercises for customers
- Provided advice to customers on the Singapore and International regulatory BCM requirements
- Identified, analysed and understood customers' imperatives, needs, goals and objectives for BC/DR
- Solution architect responsible for providing BC/DR solutions, solving technical & pricing issues, writing & submitting proposal to customers
- Managed and coordinated with IBM authorized vendors to meet customers' expectations for BC/DR projects
- Coordinated and facilitated critical servers/applications hosting at IBM Recovery facilities for customers
- Coordinated and facilitated Disaster Recovery testing for customers at IBM Recovery facilities
- Provided guidance and wrote recovery procedures for customers
- Top achiever with highest total amount of TCV in the ITS Opportunity Drive contest from 2002 to 2003
- Received awards for the WOW Champion! Awards for Dedicated to Every Client's success in 2005 for four different customers
- Received the Thumbs Up! Award conferred by IBM Country General Manager in 2005
- Received awards for the Best of IBM! Awards for Focus and Passion for Your Work in 2006
Education
BSc (Hons) - Information Systems Engineering
University of Manchester - Institute of Science And Technology
Manchester, United Kingdom 08.1997 - 07.1999
Master of Computing - Computer Science
National University of Singapore
Singapore 05.2001 - 07.2003
Graduate Diploma - Financial Management
UniSIM
Singapore 01.2006 - 12.2006
Certification - Islamic Banking and Finance
Islamic International University of Malaysia
Singapore 01.2008 - 12.2008
Skills
- Operational Resilience
- Operational Risk Management
- Internal Control Management
- Business Continuity Planning
- Technology Recovery Planning
- Disaster Recovery Planning
- Crisis Management
- Cyber Resilience
- Third-Party Resilience
- Project Management
Current Company
Wells Fargo
Awards
- Letter of Appreciation for Contribution As Committee Member of IWE2011
- The Best of IBM! Awards for Focus and Passion for Your Work
- Thumbs Up! Award conferred by IBM Country General Manager
- WOW Champion! Awards for Dedicated to Every Client's Success
Current Position
APAC Lead for Business and Operational Resiliency
Timeline
APAC Lead for Business and Operational Resiliency
Wells Fargo
01.2023 - Current
APAC Lead for Business and Technology Resiliency, Cybersecurity Technology & Control
J.P. Morgan
08.2018 - 01.2023
Senior BCM Manager (Vice President 2), Group BCM
United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB)
11.2014 - 11.2017
VP, Regional Head of Business Continuity Management, Asia
ING Bank N.V.
03.2013 - 10.2014
AVP, Business Continuity Management
Barclays Investment Bank
10.2009 - 03.2013
Business Continuity Manager, Singapore
ABN AMRO Bank N.V.
03.2008 - 01.2009
Certification - Islamic Banking and Finance
Islamic International University of Malaysia
01.2008 - 12.2008
Graduate Diploma - Financial Management
UniSIM
01.2006 - 12.2006
Master of Computing - Computer Science
National University of Singapore
05.2001 - 07.2003
Project Manager - Business Continuity and Resiliency Services
IBM
12.1999 - 03.2008
BSc (Hons) - Information Systems Engineering
University of Manchester - Institute of Science And Technology
08.1997 - 07.1999
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