Hari Bhambra
Founder Stone Advisory Limited
Hari has over 20 years’ financial sector development and compliance experience and has been part of the development and drafting team of both the FSA (London) and DFSA (DIFC). She drafted parts of both regulatory structures of the DFSA and UK FSA (integration of the unitary regulator) including the development of the supervisory philosophy of both regulators.
She has been involved in financial sector development, including advising Central Banks on the implementation of Islamic Finance into secular jurisdictions, training supervisors on Islamic Finance including acting as a consultant to the US FSVC on financial sector development projects and has consulted for a range of financial institutions including sovereign wealth and government entities.
Supporting on ‘green’ initiatives, including providing compliance, operational and risk advice and compliance services on ESG sustainability covering investment thresholds, ESG global marketing, fund labels and distribution considerations.
Building operational infrastructure to support local and global operations balancing expense management and regulatory obligations.
Developing AI into compliance and corporate solutions.
ESG, Sustainability & Transition Finance
Hari has experience in global ESG and sustainability considerations including regulatory licensing considerations, global marketing and distribution of ESG and sustainable investments, investment thresholds for ESG aligned investment strategies and building related investment governance to align with regulatory requirements whilst optimising global distribution access through regulatory product labels and distribution controls, including SDR, TCFD, SFDR, UAE (ADGM & DFSA) transition strategies, alignment and synergies between Islamic Finance & ESG, Supply Chain diligence & ESG
Training & Mentoring
She has been a tutor for the CISI offering a range of risk and compliance courses as well as having developed and delivered Islamic Finance Modules for CASS Business School Executive MBA programmes. She was also part of the DFSA, Dubai Emiratisation program to develop future regulators under the Tomorrow’s Regulatory Leaders (TRL) program and has trained other financial services supervisors, particularly in the field of Islamic Finance. She has also developed numerous online courses through Learning Management Systems (LMS) covering compliance, ESG, Cyber security and global AML.
Strategic Consulting
Hari has extensive experience in risk, compliance, AML, ESG, Sustainability, Islamic Finance, financial technology, CASP and VASP diligence, strategic advisory and consulting experience on regulatory licensing, compliance and risk monitoring, AML business risk assessments and analytical diligence having established and exited a compliance business, developing and transitioning service based industry into products for recurring revenue.She provides strategic consulting and advice on financial services regulation including optimisation of data to identify global commercial opportunities through financial services regulations and operational experience in expense management whilst ensuring regulatory compliance. She is also a member of the oversight committee of the Nasdaq Dubai listed Emirates NBD REIT providing advice and oversight of listing requirements, regulatory duties and governance oversight.
Areas of expertise
Development of compliance products and services, global distribution compliance, financial technology, global servicing support development and efficiency optimisation for regulated operations, building recurring revenue compliance products, development of training modules and platforms, investment governance frameworks including for ESG and sustainability, VASP and CASP, AML, Islamic finance, strategic consulting, cross-jurisdictional regulatory implications and opportunities, resource management across global regulatory duties, data protection, group and contagion risk.
Publications
- How the ‘look-in and look-through’ approach can help savvy investors see far ahead | GreenBiz – Hari Bhambra | GreenBiz
- Broad ESG funds lose out to ‘greener’ vehicles in Europe (ft.com)
- Introduction of SFDR: What it means | ESG Investing: Sustainability News, Events & Awards
- Looking Beyond the Label – ESG Investor
- Apex Group: Carbon footprints make strides (perenews.com)
- Op-Ed: Europe’s New ESG Rules Create an Opportunity for US Investors | Chief Investment Officer (ai-cio.com)
- Financial services rush to comply with the SFDR| Compliance Matters (comp-matters.com)
- IFN – The compliance outlook for Islamic finance (islamicfinancenews.com)Corporate treasury trends and challenges on the horizon in 2022 – The Global Treasurer
- Guide to Islamic Finance in or from the DIFC
Womens Empowerment
Hari is active in women’s economic empowerment initiatives having been a signatory to UN Women Empowerment Principles (Companies | WEPs) for her previous business due to its focus on empowerment of female employees and return to work initiatives for women.
She is engaged in research on economic and financial control and broader domestic abuse of women. She is the author of the Juno article ‘Safeguarding Women Through Finance’.
Academic and Professional Experience
LLM, LLB, Certificate in Blockchain (Oxford Said), Certificate in Artificial Intelligence (MIT)
Held positions at:
- Apex Group Limited- Global Head of Product-Compliance Solutions
- Praesidium Advisory- Founder & CEO
- Dubai Financial Services Authority- Senior Manager
- Goldman Sachs International – Analyst- Compliance
- Financial Services Authority (FSA)
Registered in England and Wales
Company no: 15184547