We’re excited to welcome our guest Laxmi Ramanath In The Suite. This fintech superpower is the founder and CEO of a global risk and compliance management software company called LaMeer, Inc. LaMeer has operations in the United States, Europe, Canada, and United Kingdom, and was named to the coveted RegTech100 list for 2021. In this episode, Laxmi gives us insight into her passion and calling to the complex world of risk management.
Laxmi created La Meer Inc. in 2010 to help organizations address the profound regulatory changes after the Financial crisis of 2008. She has over 25 years of worldwide experience in building complex financial market systems and is an expert on worldwide financial markets, capital markets, banking and market regulations.
“Using technology to help businesses is what I do best,” Laxmi says. And we would agree. With a backbone in physics, banking, and capital markets, Laxmi’s career has touched technology and left a paper trail of dust wherever she goes.
From helping to automate the Bombay Stock Exchange <!—WE THINK THAT’S EPIC –> to making a leap into enterprise world markets, Laxmi has an amazing origin story built on matter, motion, energy, and force – and the study of physics itself. She earned a B.S. in Physics and an MBA from the Jamnalal Institute of Management Studies, University of Bombay. The ability to think logically around complex business problems is a mindset instilled early in her career.
“A poorly managed financial organization can land the common man a huge risk,” explains Laxmi. She knew instinctively her deep domain experience in lending, credit, research, treasury, and depository would exponentially create a centrifugal force of global magnitude at LaMeer, Inc. This pedigree of knowledge enabled Laxmi to land roles at Citigroup, Silicon Valley Bank and CMC Limited and to create complex applications for on-line trading, credit data warehouse, integrated treasury, derivatives processing system, Internet banking for private banking, and corporate banking.
The basics of physics also teach us, that if you want to keep an object moving, you have to keep on applying a force to it—a guiding principle throughout Laxmi’s career.
Laxmi would even project manage Phase II Bombay Stock Exchange’s moonshot; automate the Bombay Stock Exchange trade reporting and matching system AND serve as the Requirements and Design Specialist for the prestigious Bombay Stock Exchange on-line trading system (BOLT) fault tolerant Tandem system!
However, we discover through the power of this episode that Laxmi’s proudest achievement is not made from source code, but rather her own DNA.
Her biggest source of inspiration is her daughter Meera, now majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in economics. In fact, LaMeer, Inc. gets its namesake from a combination of the words Laxmi and Meera. It was years of choir, dance classes, piano, and snack shacks that instilled in Laxmi, her greatest discoveries about life during a blessed time.
Today, a day in the life of Laxmi Ramanath begins with deep reading of the state of the markets and potential game-changing regulations from SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), FINRA (The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), and more! Her insatiable appetite for all things risk management and compliance, gives way to three important concepts every fintech founder should know.
- Use information to help connect the dots. Laxmi reminds us of the fact that we are all knowledge workers today and therefore need to understand complex concepts. Take time to be aware of what’s going on and how the thing you’re doing, whether coding or data science, is part of the bigger picture.
- Understand technology. Using technology to help businesses advance is what Laxmi does best. We may have to upskill in order to keep up with modern tools and tech. Keep in mind the world is accelerating at very fast pace, reinforcing the need to devote time every morning to stay current and informed, especially around technology, compliance and risk management.
- Mentor the next generation of women. Laxmi is an active member of 100womeninFinance for over 10 years, as well as National Society for Compliance Professionals, where she mentors young, emerging female talent in science and technology and finance. She reminds us that women are well suited for careers in compliance and risk management AND engineering.
Show Notes
Today’s episode with Laxmi Ramanath is all about channeling your technical side. She’s a fintech CEO and founder of LaMeer, Inc. a Global Risk and Compliance Management Software Company who transacts business in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and U.K., and has been named to the coveted RegTech100 list for 2021.
Laxmi has over 25 years of worldwide experience in building complex financial market systems and was part of the moonshot to automate the Bombay Stock Exchange.
“Using technology to help businesses is what I do best,” Laxmi says. And we would agree. With a backbone in physics, banking, and capital markets, Laxmi’s career has touched technology and left a paper trail of dust wherever she goes.
Listen to this amazing episode to gain a deeper understanding about Laxmi’s origin story and background which served as the basis for LaMeer, Inc. You’ll also discover the importance and convergence of technology, risk management and compliance, as ways to protect the common man and even predict potential situations from leading to larger crisis.
Join the conversation to hear about:
- How LaMeer, Inc. got its name (05:16)
- The most important story of Laxmi’s life (08:09)
- Laxmi’s journey into risk management (10:00)
- LaMeer, Inc. leap into global markets (15:00)
- How Laxmi manages to stay ahead of the compliance curve (18:20)
- The effect of the COVID outbreak on Laxmi’s company (22:09)
- How LaMeer, Inc. supports its enterprise customers (28:06)
- The meaning and importance of RegTech (32:05)
- How a degree in physics and an MBA helped form big picture thinking (38:51)
- Visibility and transparency in market dynamics (41:31)
- Looking back at the speed of tech (45:38)
- The importance of learning to connect the dots (52:02)
- Mentoring young girls at 100WomenInFinance (54:36)
- The one thing to do differently in the next 90 days (59:00)
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