Ankur Chadha: A Prolific Compliance Officer Maintaining A Successful Balance Between The Regulations & Organizational Interests
Ankur Chadha
(Chief Compliance Officer, Head Legal & Secretarial)
In an exclusive interview with CEOInsights, Ankur shares about his prior experience, the major challenges he has faced so far, and much more:
Shed some light on your professional background and experience. What inspired you to venture into the legal and compliance domain and what drives you today?
Post completion of my school education, I started pursuing company secretaryship along with graduation in commerce. During my CS journey, I was exposed to various facets of secretarial compliances and board governance matters which intrigued me to delve deeper into these areas and build a career in the domain of legal, compliance & secretarial. After completing CS, I started my professional journey with SRG Infotech Limited wherein I dealt with corporate legal disputes and was exposed to working with SEBI, ROC and other regulatory agencies. Thereafter, I was associated with Reliance Industries Limited to work on and support retail and SEZ business of the company. After spending 7 fulfilling years with Reliance, I joined the home & business solutions division of GE and looked after compliance and secretarial domain. Having worked in industrial and retail side of the businesses, I was keen on getting into financial services and that’s when I got an opportunity to work with ING Vysya Life Insurance wherein the role was a blend of compliance, legal & secretarial. At present, I am associated with Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance in
the capacity of Chief Compliance Officer, Head – Legal & secretarial. It has been a diverse experience, a great and ongoing learning.
Legal and Compliance is one of those functions that helps me get involved in every step of the business. As a legal and compliance professional, the exposure that you get is enormous as it requires you to understand various aspects of the business. There is never a dull moment in this role and every day is a new day and that’s something that keeps me inspired.
Define Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance as an organization and its position in the market. What is the unique proposition that it offers to its clients?
Edelweiss Tokio Life is a newage life insurance company that seeks to safeguard people’s dreams and aspirations and enable them to live their #ZindagiUnlimited. The value of customer centricity is ingrained in its culture, and we aspire to put customer first during decision making across functions. Edelweiss Tokio Life completed a decade in the sector last year and during this period, the unwavering commitment to core values of Quality, Customer Centricity and Cost consciousness have been the key pillars for the success of the company.
The company has been focused on product innovation for several years now and believes in doing insight led product design. The slew of products launched in the last couple of years have been disruptive as the company has sought to meet latent needs of its customers. We are looking at Protection in a holistic manner, wherein it aspires to address customer requirements across life stages. The company is in the process of building technological capabilities that will allow a simple and seamless buying as well service journey to customers.
Another unique proposition that the company delivers to its customers is need-based selling. Since inception, the company has relied on need-based selling approach to counsel its customers and ensure that a need-based product is delivered to them.
What are some of the major challenges you have faced so far as a successful leader in the compliance domain and how did you overcome them?
Irrespective of the profile and industry, challenges are part and parcel of a job and Compliance & Legal is no exception. As for managing varied issues of legal, compliance and governance, the ability to articulate the solution
Legal and Compliance is one of those functions that helps me get involved in every step of the business. As a legal and compliance professional, the exposure that you get is enormous as it requires you to understand various aspects of the business. There is never a dull moment in this role and every day is a new day and that’s something that keeps me inspired.
When you stop being afraid, you feel good!
Define Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance as an organization and its position in the market. What is the unique proposition that it offers to its clients?
Edelweiss Tokio Life is a newage life insurance company that seeks to safeguard people’s dreams and aspirations and enable them to live their #ZindagiUnlimited. The value of customer centricity is ingrained in its culture, and we aspire to put customer first during decision making across functions. Edelweiss Tokio Life completed a decade in the sector last year and during this period, the unwavering commitment to core values of Quality, Customer Centricity and Cost consciousness have been the key pillars for the success of the company.
The company has been focused on product innovation for several years now and believes in doing insight led product design. The slew of products launched in the last couple of years have been disruptive as the company has sought to meet latent needs of its customers. We are looking at Protection in a holistic manner, wherein it aspires to address customer requirements across life stages. The company is in the process of building technological capabilities that will allow a simple and seamless buying as well service journey to customers.
Another unique proposition that the company delivers to its customers is need-based selling. Since inception, the company has relied on need-based selling approach to counsel its customers and ensure that a need-based product is delivered to them.
What are some of the major challenges you have faced so far as a successful leader in the compliance domain and how did you overcome them?
Irrespective of the profile and industry, challenges are part and parcel of a job and Compliance & Legal is no exception. As for managing varied issues of legal, compliance and governance, the ability to articulate the solution
considering the concerns & expectations and then finding a common business compliant resolution that is acceptable to multiple stakeholders is a challenge i deal with on a daily basis. There are umpteen situations where regulations are complex and you must find ways to work with the grey. The challenge is to balance the dynamics of the business demands with the spirit and intent of the regulations and maintain standards of compliance. So, I think managing such complexities qualitatively and tactfully is extremely imperative to overcome the day to day challenges.
How are you aligning with the rules & regulations and certifications to meet the compliance & quality requirements in the industry?
Compliance & Legal is an extremely dynamic domain with ever-changing rules and regulations. A compliance officer needs to be on top of his/her game with respect to the ongoing external activities, proactive engagement with not just the regulators, but also keep an eye out and ears open to the developments taking place in your own industry and elsewhere as well. It is imperative to assimilate what the policymakers are doing, what is going to follow, and then prepare and act accordingly. The key is to implement the changes swiftly and efficiently whilst adhering to the rules and regulations.
Any piece of advice you'd like to pass on to young professionals who are striving to set benchmarks in their careers in this industry?
HARD WORK goes without saying. What I really want to say to young professionals is to focus on the intricacies as well in addition to the bigger aspects and be inquisitive always. Build and maintain relationships as these bonds will help you do better. Also, it is extremely important to look at a 360-degree view of a situation not only from the regulation perspective but also from the overall business perspective.
Ankur Chadha (Chief Compliance Officer, Head Legal & Secretarial)Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance
Ankur is an experienced and accomplished Compliance Officer with an overall 20 plus years of experience in Legal, Compliance & Secretarial out of which, around 9 years are in the insurance Sector. Presently leading the Legal,Compliance & Secretarial division at EdelweissTokio Life Insurance, Ankur is good at maintaining a balance between following the regulations and safeguarding the organizational interest.
Hobbies:Reading, Travelling, playing Squash, Spending time with family
Favorite book:Who Moved My Cheese?
Favorite Cuisine:Indian
How are you aligning with the rules & regulations and certifications to meet the compliance & quality requirements in the industry?
Compliance & Legal is an extremely dynamic domain with ever-changing rules and regulations. A compliance officer needs to be on top of his/her game with respect to the ongoing external activities, proactive engagement with not just the regulators, but also keep an eye out and ears open to the developments taking place in your own industry and elsewhere as well. It is imperative to assimilate what the policymakers are doing, what is going to follow, and then prepare and act accordingly. The key is to implement the changes swiftly and efficiently whilst adhering to the rules and regulations.
Any piece of advice you'd like to pass on to young professionals who are striving to set benchmarks in their careers in this industry?
HARD WORK goes without saying. What I really want to say to young professionals is to focus on the intricacies as well in addition to the bigger aspects and be inquisitive always. Build and maintain relationships as these bonds will help you do better. Also, it is extremely important to look at a 360-degree view of a situation not only from the regulation perspective but also from the overall business perspective.
Ankur Chadha (Chief Compliance Officer, Head Legal & Secretarial)Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance
Ankur is an experienced and accomplished Compliance Officer with an overall 20 plus years of experience in Legal, Compliance & Secretarial out of which, around 9 years are in the insurance Sector. Presently leading the Legal,Compliance & Secretarial division at EdelweissTokio Life Insurance, Ankur is good at maintaining a balance between following the regulations and safeguarding the organizational interest.
Hobbies:Reading, Travelling, playing Squash, Spending time with family
Favorite book:Who Moved My Cheese?
Favorite Cuisine:Indian