Dr. Rajiv Yadav, Ph.D.
Board Strategy & Governance Advisor
Bangkok, Thailand
About
The thinking behind governed transformation.
Executive overview
Dr. Rajiv Yadav, Ph.D. is a Board Strategy, Governance and AI Advisor with more than 35 years of boardroom and executive leadership across four continents, spanning banking, financial services, infrastructure, insurance, fintech / regtech and technology. A former Board Director and senior banking executive, he advises Boards, CEOs and regulators across Asia and the Middle East.
His work sits at the intersection of enterprise transformation, credit risk, technology modernisation and governance. He helps boards and leadership teams convert complexity into governed execution, stronger controls, measurable performance and sustainable institutional resilience.
He has served as Board Director during the AIG Retail Bank Thailand turnaround and its post-acquisition integration into Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), and as a Management Board member at Vietnam International Bank, overseeing operations, technology, risk and enterprise transformation.
Leadership philosophy
Independent judgement, constructive challenge and evidence-based decision-making in service of long-term enterprise value, with Boards given clear visibility of strategic opportunities, material risks and execution realities.
Governance is not simply compliance or oversight. It is a practical framework for making sound decisions, managing risk, executing strategy and sustaining institutional performance.
- Evidence before solutions
- Understand the underlying situation, test assumptions and separate symptoms from root causes before deciding.
- Constructive challenge
- Challenge established views when the evidence warrants it, so that material issues are understood and alternatives considered.
- Clear accountability
- Every material initiative or risk has an identifiable owner, agreed action, resources and a way to assess progress.
- Disciplined execution
- Clear expectations, appropriate authority, reliable information and consistent follow-through turn judgement into results.
Selected career milestones
Decisions, transformations and turnarounds.
2019 – 2025
Krungsri Bank (MUFG Group)
Senior Vice President, Group Strategy & Transformation
- Advised senior leadership on business performance, risk, technology and regulatory priorities across six ASEAN banking subsidiaries.
- Acted as de facto Group COO / Transformation Lead for selected subsidiaries, strengthening asset quality, operating models, governance and enterprise performance.
- Led modernisation of lending and collections platforms, overseeing RFPs, vendor selection, implementation governance and execution readiness, while participating in subsidiary IT Steering Committees.
- Instituted Board-aligned performance scorecards and enterprise management controls supporting operational resilience, regulatory alignment and business continuity.
2007 – 2009
AIG Retail Bank
Chief Operating Officer / Chief Information Officer · Board Director
- Delivered a USD 28M improvement in profitability by strengthening credit underwriting, collections governance, risk controls and operating discipline.
- Reduced operating costs by USD 5.5M through process optimisation, technology modernisation, organisational simplification and cost management.
- Served as Board Director and led the post-acquisition integration following acquisition by Bank of Ayudhya.
2009 – 2010
Vietnam International Bank
Chief Operating Officer
- Established the Bank’s COO/CIO function, governance framework and enterprise-wide performance measurement.
- Consolidated operations across 117 cities and 500+ employees, standardising processes and strengthening controls across the branch network.
- Built a common credit and collections platform for commercial and consumer lending, strengthening oversight of credit decisions, recoveries and portfolio governance.
2013 – 2017
Vision Invest (ACWA Holding)
Corporate Strategy Director, Middle East
- Restructured governance and performance systems across subsidiaries and holding companies, giving CEOs and Boards clearer visibility into results, operating issues and business risks.
- Led annual P&L planning, market-entry decisions, growth programmes and strategic partnerships with CEOs, supporting capital allocation toward priority businesses.
- Built group-wide governance structures and shared-service platforms that reduced duplication, strengthened controls and improved revenue and profit performance.
2001 – 2006
Birlasoft Limited
Vice President, Operations · P&L Owner
- Won USD 150M+ in annual IT outsourcing contracts across GE businesses while improving utilisation and controlling delivery cost.
- Established global delivery capabilities across India, Australia and the United States, including a 150+ professional Development Centre in Melbourne, later transitioned to India as part of the global delivery strategy.
In practice
Governance applied to real situations.
Turnaround at AIG Retail Bank, Thailand
Brought in to assess a distressed portfolio, with an initial diagnosis due within three days, then COO/CIO and Board Director. Credit assessment and remarketing were centralised, new loan origination, loan management and collections systems introduced, and performance-linked incentives for Collections approved by management and the Board. The result: more than USD 8M recovered in year one, about USD 5.5M lower operating cost and about USD 28M better profitability, with no employee retrenched as a result.
Building a dedicated Collections function, Hattha Bank, Cambodia
Separated Underwriting and Collections to establish clear ownership, building a dedicated Collections organisation from zero to about 650 people, with defined roles, KPIs, delegated approval limits and weekly performance reviews.
Platform evaluation across Krungsri subsidiaries
Shared a scoring model for core lending platform evaluation that Hattha Bank, SHB Finance, Home Credit Philippines and Home Credit Indonesia customised to their needs and continued to use for later vendor selection. Options and a five-year cost-benefit analysis framed the IT transition work under “Project Sunshine”.
The governance cycle
- Identification
- Assessment
- Decision
- Accountability
- Implementation
- Monitoring
- Corrective Action
- Review and Learning
Applied proportionately to the significance of the matter, with timely escalation and appropriate Board or senior-management visibility.
Cross-border experience
Experience across markets.
Experience across four continents, from ASEAN banking subsidiaries to infrastructure in the Middle East and global delivery from India, Australia and the United States.
ASEAN
Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar
Krungsri · AIG Retail Bank Thailand · AIA · Vietnam International Bank
Middle East
Infrastructure portfolio from Riyadh and Dubai
Vision Invest / ACWA Holding
India
Financial services, technology delivery and board communities
GE Capital · Tata Interactive · Birlasoft · Perot Systems · Board Stewardship
Australia & the United States
Global delivery operations
Birlasoft (Melbourne)
Governance and transformation perspective
Business, operations, technology and governance in one view.
This blend enables Dr. Yadav to advise boards on enterprise transformation, technology investments, AI, cyber resilience, digital risk and innovation, helping them balance growth, regulation, technology and stakeholder trust.
Board committee-relevant experience
Evidence-based experience relevant to these areas of oversight includes enterprise risk controls, regulatory compliance, credit and collections governance, portfolio assessment, capital allocation, strategic planning, technology modernisation and performance oversight. It includes active participation in Technology / IT Steering Committees across ASEAN banking subsidiaries, including Hattha Bank (Cambodia), SHB Finance (Vietnam), Home Credit Indonesia and Home Credit Philippines. Workforce planning and leadership-governance experience also provides relevant exposure to Nomination & Remuneration considerations.
Education & credentials
Academic and professional grounding.
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Doctorate, Business Administration
Institute of Directors
Fellow & Life Member
Imperial College Business School, London
Certificate, Digital Transformation
JBIMS, Mumbai
Master of Marketing Management
NIT Rourkela
B.Sc., Electrical Engineering
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