Building cyber resilience: Stress testing, AI threats, and operational risk strategies

Arvinder Bharath brings to bear a blend of experience spanning over 30 years in technology, banking, and policy setting. She started her career in technology working with corporates, conglomerates and tech and telecom giants such as British Telecom, Nortel Systems, Cisco, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. She later joined Barclays Bank where she held senior positions in technology, mergers, acquisitions, and separations across the globe. She then returned to the Caribbean to lead RBC Royal Bank as president and country head for Trinidad and Tobago. Arvinder subsequently moved to the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago as Deputy Inspector of Financial Institutions, transitioning to lead Financial Technology, Information Security and Knowledge and Information departments. She is currently a Digital Risks Expert with the IMF where she provides technical assistance to member countries in management of digital and cyber risks arising from digitalization of the financial services sector, public financial management and adoption of digital currencies. She is involved in various international working groups and forums on transformative technologies such as Quantum Computing, generative AI, DeFi and others. 

Arvinder holds a BSc Hons in Information Technology and an MBA in Banking – both from the University of London.

Eliud "El-G" Ramocan is responsible for cyber resilience and threat intelligence at the Bank of Jamaica, leading Jamaica’s cyber resilience framework for the financial sector and also chairs the Cyber Risk Technical Working Group of the Caribbean Group of Bank Supervisors.

With a distinguished background in technology, economics and strategy early in his career, El-G was designated a short-term IMF Technical Assistance Expert at age 28 and later appointed by his country to upgrade the cyber infrastructure across the military, police force and mission-critical systems in cooperation with the Government of Israel. Following this, he was seconded to the Financial Services Commission in Jamaica as CIO where he orchestrated a swift and successful recovery following a major ransomware attack.  With a wealth of resilience, he crafted his country’s Ten Cyber Resilience Principles for the Financial Sector, alongside policies centred on cyber risk governance and cybersecurity preparedness.

He holds a degree in Computer Science and Economics and an MBA from the University of the West Indies. Then further pursued studies at Harvard Kennedy School of Government focusing on Cybersecurity Policy and Strategic Management for Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies. Giving back, he lectures at the university-level in cybersecurity, risk governance and project management and travels extensively as a speaker and accomplished author.

Bachelor of Science in Computing and Master of Business Administration, Mr. Cavalcante works at Central Bank of Brazil for 22 years. He is Deputy Head of the IT department and Chief of Cybersecurity and Technological Innovation Office. He is in charge of fostering and collaborating in initiatives related to cybersecurity and technological innovation in the Brazilian financial system, like Distributed Ledger Technology (DTL), Open Banking and Regulatory Sandbox.

Mr. Sukhvir Notra is a Senior Information Security Specialist at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He has been an information security professional for over 10 years with majority of his career focused on defensive cyber operations. At the Cyber Resilience Coordination Centre (BIS), Sukhvir is responsible for development and delivery of cyber range exercises, managing cyber resilience assessments of central banks and other projects aimed at strengthening cyber resilience and promoting collaboration in the central bank community. His primary interest include leadership, operations, information security readiness and risk management. He has a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering degree and a Masters of Cyber Security from University of New South Wales.