What motivates a true leader? For some, it’s a pursuit of power, wealth, or status. But for the most principled leaders, a larger calling drive them forward. In the world of finance, that calling is a desire to safeguard the entire financial system, keeping it secure, stable, and resilient against any threat.
This is the fire that fuels the most impactful financial leaders. A passion for protecting the vital arteries through which capital flows. A sense of duty to utilize financial tools and practices not just to accumulate profits, but to reinforce the foundations upon which global markets are built.
Driven by a deep-rooted sense of purpose, Gaurav Kohli has emerged as a leader committed to enhancing the safety and persistence of the financial system. His career mission took shape after witnessing the harsh realities of the 2008 financial crisis firsthand, an experience that left an indelible mark. Currently serving as a Managing Director in EY’s US Risk Consulting practice, specializing in financial services, he has dedicated himself to the pivotal objective of fortifying Treasury and liquidity risk management practices.
Gaurav’s path was forged by an innate passion for problem-solving that took root early on. After graduating from the University of Delhi in 2007, the consulting field’s variety of business challenges proved an irresistible draw. EY provided him with an entry into an industry about to be rocked by upheaval.
At the time, few predicted the imminence of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. But as storied institutions like Washington Mutual and IndyMac collapsed, Gaurav watched revered names crumble, exposing deep risk management vulnerabilities. The spark that would ignite his career mission had been lit.
Heading to the US in 2009 to pursue his MBA, he aimed to help banks fortify their practices in the crisis’ wake. The Dodd-Frank Act’s new regulations created an opportune opening. Having experienced the turmoil, he was determined to build his career safeguarding the financial services industry by enhancing its risk management standards.
Today, Gaurav oversees major client engagements at EY, leveraging over 15 years of cross-industry experience. His focus areas include liquidity risk management, payments, fund transfer pricing, and data strategy. But his core motivation stems from that career-defining event just after he started his journey.
The Global Financial Crisis was a pivotal moment that highlighted how quickly fortunes can change when risk management practices are inadequate. For Gaurav, it revealed an essential truth: institutions must be resilient enough to withstand any market conditions. Otherwise, collapse is inevitable. Forged in crisis, his mission is to strengthen financial safeguards by applying the harsh lessons he witnessed firsthand. His leadership helps ensure those past catastrophic mistakes never reoccur by preparing banks for every contingency in an uncertain future.
Let us learn more about his journey:
Building a More Resilient Financial System
Gaurav sees himself as a purpose-driven leader with a mission to fortify the financial system’s safety net. His passion stems from the belief that his team’s work directly impacts the well-being of the financial industry and the broader economy.
Here’s how his work translates to real-world impact for Gaurav:
- Preventing Large Bank Failures: Since the 2008 crisis, where giants like Washington Mutual collapsed, no major US bank exceeding $300 billion in assets has faced a similar fate. This resilience through challenges like COVID-19 and the 2023 regional banking stress is a testament to Gaurav’s team’s efforts.
- Building Risk Management Frameworks: Gaurav’s team has been instrumental in equipping over a dozen large banks with robust risk management tools. These include liquidity stress testing, intraday liquidity management, and other capabilities.
- Promoting Economic Stability: By helping banks identify and mitigate risks proactively, Gaurav’s team contributes significantly to financial system stability. This translates to economic growth and a more resilient financial landscape.
- Ensuring Trust and Job Security: Gaurav recognizes the connection between stable financial institutions and a healthy economy. Strong banks foster trust among consumers and businesses, which fuels investment and job creation.
- Focus on Regional Banks: While progress has been made, the 2023 regional banking crisis, where relatively smaller banks failed, highlights the ongoing need for heightened risk management across the board. Gaurav’s team remains dedicated to helping regional clients navigate future challenges.
Building Trusting Partnerships
Gaurav recognizes the importance of fostering strong client relationships within the financial services industry. His approach emphasizes understanding client needs beyond just project specifics. By actively listening, he seeks to grasp their broader organizational goals and identify ways to support them through the broader consulting network or industry connections.
Building trust is key for him. He prioritizes client relationships regardless of immediate project activity and treats all inquiries with urgency. Consistent success in solving complex problems fosters long-term trust. This trust is a two-way street.
When clients trust Gaurav, they become invested in his success, offering guidance and support to navigate challenges. In return, he prioritizes maintaining credibility, staying informed, and proactively communicating any potential risks. This focus on understanding client needs, genuine connection, and consistent service establishes a strong foundation for successful collaboration.
Navigating the Evolved Landscape
Gaurav’s experience highlights a significant transformation in how financial institutions manage treasury and liquidity risks since the 2008 crisis. Regulatory reforms post-crisis set a new baseline for risk governance, measurement, and reporting across banks.
Initially, banks focused on building risk frameworks and data systems to strengthen these areas. This was followed by the development of advanced capabilities like cash flow forecasting, stress testing, and buffer management. For large institutions, standardized metrics like the LCR and NSFR became mandatory.
While core risk management principles remain constant, the way banks gather data, report on risks, and model potential issues has become far more sophisticated over the last decade. While challenges remain due to the evolving risk landscape, Gaurav sees many banks are better prepared to handle future crises thanks to their investments in robust risk management tools.
Approach to Transformational Leadership
Gaurav champions a transformational leadership style. He believes in fostering a shared vision and nurturing his team members’ technical and leadership skills as they work towards collective goals. Witnessing his team members flourish into leadership roles themselves brings him immense satisfaction.
Technical expertise is highly valued by him, and he actively coaches and develops his team in this area. However, he recognizes that leadership goes beyond technical proficiency. To excel, his team needs to feel empowered, make decisions with his support, and effectively coach, communicate, and believe in themselves.
Gaurav provides his team with leadership opportunities, such as client presentations, technical training sessions, and vendor relationship management. These experiences boost their confidence, drive, and motivation to achieve shared objectives. Interestingly, he finds inspiration in the show Ted Lasso’s portrayal of transformational leadership. He highly recommends the show to anyone interested in this leadership style.
Staying Ahead in Financial Services
Gaurav sees immense potential in Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially Generative AI (Gen AI), to transform Treasury and liquidity risk management. Gen AI, in his view, can be a powerful investigative tool for risk managers. It can analyze data patterns to identify emerging risks, send alerts, and even synthesize research papers.
Additionally, Gen AI can support tasks like management reporting, analysis, and document creation. He believes early investment in AI will lead to significant gains in operational efficiency and productivity for financial services firms.
Staying informed is paramount for Gaurav. To achieve this, he has a well-defined information-gathering strategy. Every morning, he scans the Wall Street Journal’s Risk and Compliance and CFO Journal sections for industry insights. Being part of a Big 4 firm like EY grants him access to a vast network of professionals and internal resources on regulations and industry trends. He further supplements this knowledge by actively reading professional risk journals to gain the latest perspectives from industry experts.
This comprehensive approach allows Gaurav to develop his own informed views on emerging trends and their potential impact on clients. For instance, the rise of real-time payments in the US has implications for liquidity risk management. Recognizing this, he has been proactively discussing these implications with clients and advising them on appropriate preparations.
Leading Transformation in Financial Risk Management
Building trust with clients and tackling their most pressing challenges is paramount for him. These challenges can range from tight regulatory deadlines to resource constraints or internal misalignment within the client’s organization. As a trusted advisor, Gaurav collaborates with clients to find solutions and achieve desired outcomes.
For instance, he once led a complex engagement on fund transfer pricing, a topic known to spark internal disagreements due to its financial impact. The challenge was to achieve consensus from a diverse group of stakeholders within a short timeframe. His team’s solution was to ground their recommendations in strong risk management principles and objectively analyze the client’s data.
This established their credibility and paved the way for the successful implementation of changes to the transfer pricing framework. This experience exemplifies his approach: building trust, collaborating with clients, and achieving success through objectivity and sound problem-solving.
Leading with Purpose
Gaurav’s passion for consulting stems from two core aspects: the intellectual challenge and the opportunity for continuous learning. He thrives on the variety of complex problems clients present, viewing each day as a chance to learn and solve in new contexts. Additionally, witnessing his team members flourish and achieve promotions brings him immense personal fulfillment.
Consulting, however, isn’t without its demands. Balancing multiple client engagements, business development, and people management can be a tightrope walk. While achieving a work-life balance can be challenging, he believes it’s attainable over time. His strategy hinges on effective communication with his teams.
By investing in training and empowering them to make more day-to-day decisions, Gaurav fosters their development while also creating the space he needs to manage his own schedule more effectively. This approach allows him to find satisfaction in both his intellectual pursuits and his role as a mentor, creating a win-win for himself and his team.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are mine and do not necessarily represent EY’s position.
