ALLAN GITARI KARIUKI
Card Payments Specialist
Nairobi,P.O Box 72227
Summary
A seasoned Card payment specialist with 15 years’ experience in Card operations, Risk, project management.
I am a talented leader with proven strengths in change management, high performing team leadership, Project Management, and I possess an exceptional track record in operational efficiency, customer support and risk management
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Manager, Card Operations
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB)
06.2023
- Own and responsible for overall strategy and objectives of Card operations department within Group shared services
- Responsible for department staffing and up-skilling, budgeting, Balance scorecard evaluation for a team of 35, implementing new tools for fraud monitoring (TWFA, CyberSource decision manager, NFS360), liaison with card schemes to achieve a target operating model and optimize card scheme tools to increase approval rates, leveraging on group capabilities to reduce costs through centralizing card settlements reconciliation, chargebacks and Fraud monitoring
- Achievements: Attained pass in audit within 6 months, ensured 100% scheme mandates compliance in Oct 2023, reduced scheme penalties from $100,000 to nil, introduced three-point settlement reconciliation that eliminated losses through late presentment chargebacks by ensuring 100% transaction submission.
Manager Card Operations
CIB Kenya
11.2021 - 06.2023
- Deliverables included set up of Card Services and Call center through a network of strategic third-party partners
- Cbk Approvals, Card Artwork and profile designs & Approvals, SOPs documentation, Department staffing, Budgeting, Visa project implementation, branch training and product launch
- Achievement: Set up of a card operations department and Successfully completed Visa card issuing project within 7 months of engagement.
Cash and Card Operations Manager
STANBIC BANK KENYA LTD
08.2015 - 10.2021
- Leading card operations team, setting up new card operations department, setting up card acquiring product and associated VAS, card risk management- Fraud and chargebacks, ATM reconciliation, Vendor relations, Audit issues closure
- Responsible for Treasury and ATM operation for the bank ensuring cash availability to bank branches at all times, Central Bank of Kenya Signatory and Liaison, Foreign currency provision through partners like MoneyCorp, Travelex, BOA
- Cash in transit enablement for business clients, Cash deposit Machines implementation for the bank
- Achievement: Set up of the and operationalization of Stanbic Kenya’s card acquiring
- Setting up outsourced cash center in Mombasa with a turnover of over $10m Monthly
- Implementation of outsourced branch operations for the bank leading to reduction of $5k expenses per branch monthly.
Manager Card Services
DIAMOND TRUST BANK KENYA LIMITED
07.2013 - 07.2015
- Leading a team that offers card services to the DTB credit, debit, and prepaid card customers (over 500,000 Customers), card product development, Mpesa payments, budgeting, vendor relations, customer service, card scheme relations (Visa & MasterCard)
- Success Story: Operationalized the first co-branded multi-currency prepaid cards in Kenya
- Nation Hela, Mi-card and Nakumatt Global
Shift Leader Barclaycard Risk- Authorization & Fraud Monitoring
BARCLAYS BANK
09.2009 - 07.2013
- Leading a team that offers card authorization services for Barclaycard operations in Africa
- (Countries covered Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia and Seychelles)
- Review of credit card fraud cases reported on FMS (Fraud Guard), Investigation, detection and closing of flagged cases
- Identification of CPP (common Point of Purchase) and incidence reporting
- Making authorization decisions on high value transactions to reduce bank’s exposure to fraud
- Point of escalation for customer complaints this involves handling complex cases of customers who are unable to use their cards as well as ensuring follow up to completions of cases that cannot be solved by customer service team
- Offering technical assistance to merchants in use of Point-of-Sale devices
- Coordinating with bank Security team on arrest of nabbed fraudsters.
MI & Chargebacks Analyst – Barclaycard Risk- Chargebacks
BARCLAYS BANK
04.2007 - 09.2009
- Creating a database of card disputes for Barclaycard Acquiring business in Africa
- Investigation of fraud chargebacks, liaison with the involved merchants to prevent future fraud occurrence
- Analysis of the fraud figures in relation to the threshold set by card schemes (Visa Amex MasterCard)
- Analysis of the data to give the various deliverables i.e
- Fraud trend-to the risk department, Merchant chargeback figures- to the various Acquiring Relationship Managers, Loss & Write off figures- Finance & Barclaycard Management
- Analyzing card disputes and making decisions on how to handle them according to rules set by card schemes i.e
- Visa, Amex & MasterCard ensuring that no financial loss goes to the Business Customers or the bank.
Education
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE - FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY (JKUAT)
07.2005
Skills
Card projects- Issuing, acquiring and ATM (3Ds 20, chip migration, 8-digit bin migration, various business enhancements)
References
- Clifford Akeyo, Senior Manager, Core operations, Stanbic Bank, Kenya, Westlands Road, Nairobi, Kenya, +254720109633, clifford.akeyo@stanbic.com
- Ian King'ara, Head of Operations, Habib bank Ag Zurich, Koinange St, Nairobi, Kenya, +254732602003.
- Josephat Tuitoek, Head Balance sheet management, Absa bank, Kenya, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya, +254722721051, josephat.tuitoek@absa.africa
Training
Various Visa and Mastercard Trainings
Timeline
Senior Manager, Card Operations
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB)
06.2023
Manager Card Operations
CIB Kenya
11.2021 - 06.2023
Cash and Card Operations Manager
STANBIC BANK KENYA LTD
08.2015 - 10.2021
Manager Card Services
DIAMOND TRUST BANK KENYA LIMITED
07.2013 - 07.2015
Shift Leader Barclaycard Risk- Authorization & Fraud Monitoring
BARCLAYS BANK
09.2009 - 07.2013
MI & Chargebacks Analyst – Barclaycard Risk- Chargebacks
BARCLAYS BANK
04.2007 - 09.2009
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE - FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY (JKUAT)
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