The five minute CEO - Arjun Singh CEO of WNS Global Services

FST.Please giveus abrief overviewofWNS.

AS. WNS is a NYSE listed leader in business process outsourcing (BPO). The company employs over 13,000 associates and has over 125 clients worldwide. With its delivery centres in India&Sri Lanka andClient Servicing offices in the US and UK,we provide comprehensive data, voice and analytical services that are underpinned by our expertise in our target industry sectors.
WNS comprises a variety of verticals – travel, banking, insurance, financial services, enterprise services, and knowledge services. As we operate under a wide spectrum of services the company has a vast pool of qualified professionals handling operations.

FST. How long have you been associated withWNS?

AS. I joinedWNSinOctober 2006 prior towhich I was working with ABN AMRO Bank in the Netherlands.AtWNS, I amreally impressedwith the people-centric culture of the company,and am enjoying the chance toworkwith great leadership
and very skilled people.

FST. Please share your experiences during your stint inEurope?

AS. Iwas based inAmsterdam,andworkingwith ABN AMRO Bank as the European Head of ClientService forTransaction banking. In this role I had over four hundred team members looking after the transactional banking requirements of our
top clients across 20 countries inEurope. As we continuously enhanced our servicing platformin theNetherlands we also off-shored a variety of roles to India, and over time there was a clear payback in terms of the quality and commitment fromour Indian centre. On a personal front my family and I enjoyed life in Amsterdamenormously, and cherish the friendships formed there.

FST.What is the differentiating factor about the BFSI vertical?

AS.WNS has a very competitive service offering in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), which represents over 40 percent of the revenue forWNS. I amdelighted at the opportunity to build this business, and expand the client base in both theUS andEurope.

Our clientswithin this line of business include mortgage banks, assetmanagement firms, investment banks, retail banks,property and casualty insurance firms,and life and general insurance firms.

A recognised leader in the residentialmortgage industry,BFSI, has developed the core capabilities and expertise necessary to broaden our financial services offering. These proven processing capabilities in the areas of loan processing, loan document indexing, customer service, collections, new account set-up, insurance claims adjudication, insurance policy administration, and sales enable us to help clients to maximise efficiency and access highly talented and experienced offshore professionals.

Our company employs hundreds of professionals with specialised degrees such as CAs, CFAs,MBAs,ICWAs,and so on,all of who mare gainfully employed in very challenging processes. We endeavour to hire specialists, but also have strong training and certification programmes to create specialists internally.

FST. Your lastacquisitionwas intheBFSI space. What’snext?

AS.This acquisition enabled us to further expand ourmarket presence and extend our reach within the financial services vertical, beginning with the mortgage banking sector.It also brought us a number of competencies in terms of a globalworkforce and domain expertise.Within our strengths, we will check for portfolio gaps and seek to expand there.However,we are also looking at new verticals like logistics,media and entertainment,manufacturing and retail.

FST. Which are the new global markets that BFSIwouldlike to expandinto?

AS.Wewould be very keen to explore opportunities with the banking and financial services organisations within Europe.We will strive to combine the intellectualhorsepower andexpertise of the educated workforce in India with a European based footprint tomanagemultilingual capabilities.

Off shoring is now an essential business tool that the EuropeanUnion nationsmust use to become the most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010.Workingwith Indian expertise in thismarket will allow the EU to fuel industrial growth and remove historical cost structures. In 2006, some of the largest global outsourcing deals were fromEurope –makingEurope themost important source of business for any global IT supplier. Many of the leading European companies like StandardChartered, ABNAMRO, Barclays, Aviva, etc. have been off shoring successfully for some years now.