EbixCash Appoints Former RBI ED Uma Shankar As Independent Director
EbixCash, a subsidiary of Ebix, a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries, appointed Uma Shankar, as a new independent director to the EbixCash Board.
Uma is a career banker, having retired as Executive Director at Reserve Bank of India (RBI), after serving RBI for 37 years.
Uma is well versed in financial regulation, cyber security and data analytics. She has served as the Co- Chair of the committees relating to Financial Regulation and as a member of the Audit and Supervision groups of several International financial bodies. On the national front, she was the Chairperson of the Standing Committees on Cyber security and Data analytics. She was also the head of the interdepartmental group to explore the feasibility of introducing Central Bank digital currency.
Uma is presently an Independent Director on the Boards of Karnataka Bank as well as IDBI Capital Markets and Securities.
Uma brings a vast repertoire of experience across banking supervision, currency management, urban bank regulation, cyber security and administration etc., in addition to more than two decades of board level experience in Government and Quasi-Government organisations. During her 37-year employment with RBI, Uma was nominated as an RBI Board representative on a number of reputed financial institutions - Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, UCO Bank, Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd. (BRBNMPL), Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd.(SPMCIL) and ECGC Ltd.
Uma Shankar said, “EbixCash has emerged as a strong player in the financial sector both on the B2C and B2B side – be it payment solutions, pre-paid cards, remittance, foreign exchange, bill payments, AEPS etc. on the B2C side and then technology-based services like lending, wealth & asset management, insurance etc. for banks and financial institutions. Having spent my entire career in the financial industry, I am well versed with the banking and BFSI industry, besides having a deep understanding of its various associated aspects like technology trends, cyber security, currency management, regulations and administration. I am delighted to join the board of EbixCash and to be able to humbly contribute to the EbixCash efforts to bring increased digitization to the financial industry worldwide.”
Robin Raina, Chairman of the Board, EbixCash said, “Uma brings a deep blend of regulatory, administration, technology, strategic, and corporate governance experience across the banking and financial sector to the Board. She is seen as a leading luminary in the field of financial regulation, cyber security, data analytics and digital currency globally – all fields relevant to EbixCash as we embark on our global journey. We are excited to have her on the EbixCash Board.”
Uma is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), and has completed Executive Education at Columbia Business School, New York and has also achieved a Masters in English.
Other EbixCash Independent Board members
· SP Kothari – A US Citizen, S.P. Kothari is the Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Most recently, from 2019 to 2021 he served as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He received one of India’s highest civil honors, the Padma Shri on December 8th from the President of India, for his work in the field of Economics.
· S Ravi - Ravi is presently serving as the Chairman and Director of Tourism Finance Corporation of India Ltd – the premier Indian Financial Institution, set-up to promote tourism in India. He also presently serves on the boards of Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company Ltd., Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd., Aditya Birla ARC Ltd., IIFL Asset Management Ltd. and SBI Payment Services Pvt. Ltd. He has served on the boards of over 40 prestigious institutions including insurance companies, a number of public sector banks and public sector enterprises like UCO bank, Union Bank, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., BHEL, SBI - SG Global Securities Services Pvt Ltd to name a few. Also, he was appointed by Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as Chairman of the Technical Experts Committee for Punjab & Sind Bank’s Strategic Turnaround.
· Sunil Srivastav - Sunil is a career banker, having retired as Deputy. Managing Director of the Corporate Accounts Group at India’s largest bank - State Bank of India (SBI), after serving the bank for 38 years. Sunil brings a vast repertoire of experience across the international banking sector having spent a major part of his career in corporate banking at SBI, investment banking at SBI Capital Markets Ltd., and a five-year stint at SBI's New York office. Sunil is presently serving as a Senior Advisor to one of India’s largest investment banking firms - Edelweiss. He is also serving as a Senior Advisor to the World Bank for their Energy and Extractives program in India. Sunil is also an Independent Director on the boards of a number of public companies.
· Neil Eckert – Neil is presently the Chairman of Conduit Re, a UK reinsurer, that recently listed on the LSE. Mr. Eckert has been Chairman of Micro Power Ltd, a business that specializes in developing and investing in small-scale alternative energy projects and technologies. He is a director of Evofem Inc. and is Non-Executive Chairman of Design Technology and Innovation Limited, a patenting and intellectual property company. He also served as a Non-Executive Director of Arthur J Gallagher (UK) Ltd until September 2015.From 1999 until April 2005, he served as Chief Executive Office of Brit. In 1995, he co-founded Brit as a listed investment trust company. In 2005, Mr. Eckert founded Climate Exchange PLC and was Chief Executive Officer until 2010 when the company was sold to InterContinental Exchange Inc.
· Pavan Bhalla – Pavan till recently served in multiple leadership roles at Aon Hewitt, including Chief Executive Officer of Outsourcing (sold to private equity for $4.8B), Chief Financial Officer of Outsourcing and Corporate Controller He is currently a Partner with FCM LLC, a consulting firm that serves some of the largest private equity firms in the world and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Before joining FCM, Pavan was President of the HR & Financial Solutions business at Alight, where he led the company’s cloud-based HR and financial services platform business. As Senior Vice President of Finance for global telecommunications giant MCI, he helped lead the company out of the largest fraud and bankruptcy in corporate history. Before that, he was a Chief Financial Officer and Controller of several BellSouth Corporation subsidiaries. Pavan has an MBA in Analytic Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an MBA in Management Science from Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is also a Certified Public Accountant from Illinois.
