JBIMS hosts Mr. Kiran Shah, MD, Goldman Sachs

JBIMS hosts Mr. Kiran Shah, MD, Goldman Sachs

Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, upholding its tradition of hosting on campus successful business leaders from the industry, had the honour to host Mr. Kiran Shah, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs on campus. Mr. Shah, having been a part of the financial services industry for about twenty years, had rare insights to share from his vast pool of knowledge and experience. He began by giving the batch an overall picture of the industry and its evolution over time, the roles that he had been associated with and drawing from his personal experience, a flavour of what to expect in the immediate future. The theme for the session was – ‘Operations and Technology in the Financial Sector’ with a special focus on Risk and Control. He set out by highlighting how Risk Management had gained all the more importance and relevance in the present global context given the volatility and the sheer volumes being traded in the markets and how decision making at all levels in an organization was impacted by it. How it was imperative for organizations to safeguard their systems and processes against any such risks by building in appropriate checks and balances in order to make our financial institutions more robust and reliable.

Taking the discussion further, Mr. Shah brought out the vari

ous types of risks and threats that an organization faced today and the consequences and implications of each, not only to the organization but to the overall health of the industry. Sighting examples wherein giant financial institutions which once looked impeccably sound and robust had been forced out of the market due to their sheer inability to understand and react to risk effectively, Mr. Shah pointed out that it was of utmost importance to be cognizant of the fragility of our systems in order to survive and thrive in the market today. He also went on to explain how a big enabler in doing so was Technology as it was instrumental in helping organizations minimize risk and threats in order to safeguard the interests of all the stakeholders including the organization itself. He underlined how organizational reputation had become even more important in the present scenario as it was most difficult to bring back once tarnished.

Mr. Shah further delved into the overall functioning of Investment Banks and Securities firms with respect to the basic trade flows, the control infrastructure and the supporting systems built into them. He took the students through a detailed analysis of each and every function and the opportunities therein for budding management professionals. He was extremely articulate in bringing out the plethora of opportunities that the Indian financial services industry had to offer and how we could make the most of them.

As the session progressed, it turned out to be very interesting and particularly interactive, with Mr. Shah bringing in live case studies and the students pitching in with their viewpoints and unique outlooks. The students brought out interesting nuances of the cases and gave innovative solutions that could be adopted in order to avoid such errors and their implications to the functioning of the markets. The interest and enthusiasm of the batch could be easily gauged with the kind of feedback that this part of Mr. Shah’s presentation received from them. This was followed by the Question and Answer round where Mr. Shah patiently handled the doubts and queries that the students had. Overall, the session was a great learning experience for the students of JBIMS and they could not have asked for a more interesting and enriching experience.

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