KHEMRAJ HURRY

Lead a team of analysts in overseeing the National Payment Switch, ensuring the smooth functioning and efficient processing of mobile and card-based payments. Key responsibilities and achievements include:

• Led the development and implementation of key payment-related projects to enhance efficiency, resilience and interoperability across the national payment ecosystem.
• Facilitated project delivery by proactively assessing risks, resolving issues and roadblocks to ensure ongoing projects are not impacted.
• Supervised the operations of the Bank’s payment systems, taking measures to ensure high availability of the system, security and regulatory compliance.
• Oversaw the onboarding of new participants to national infrastructures, ensuring adherence to industry standards and certification process.
• Promoted cross-team collaboration, notably working with the Licensing Division to evaluate proposals from fintech companies for new payment initiatives and to assess the risks associated with new payment rails proposed by banks and fintech firms.
• Expanded knowledge by learning the operations of the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system and the SWIFT financial messaging network.
• Encouraged a culture of continuous learning by introducing a weekly knowledge-sharing session to enhance technical expertise and team collaboration.
• Represented the Bank internationally, participating as a panelist on Open Banking during a panel discussion organized by the OECD.
• Delivered strategic presentations to key international audiences, including:

- A presentation to the Commonwealth countries on "Digital Payments as a Transformation Element in Catalyzing Digital Trade".

- A presentation on "Digitalization of Payments in Mauritius and Opportunities for Payment Intermediaries" for international fintech companies, in collaboration with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Z/Yen.

• Continuously aligned operations and projects with emerging international best practices, supporting the strategic vision of modernizing the national payment infrastructure.
• Used critical thinking to break down problems, evaluate solutions and make decisions.

My job role consisted of :

1. Transaction Monitoring and Troubleshooting:

• Monitoring payment transactions to ensure smooth processing and identify any issues or abnormalities.
• Investigating and resolving transaction-related errors, declines and authorization issues.
• Collaborating with internal teams, service providers to address and troubleshoot transactional problems.

2. Terminal management system Integration and Payment system Maintenance:

• Integrating payment gateways with terminal management system to enable secure and seamless payment processing.
• Managing and maintaining payment gateways, ensuring system availability, performance, and security.

3. Payment Security and Compliance:

• Implementing and maintaining security measures to protect sensitive payment card data, ensuring compliance with industry standards such as PCI-DSS.
• Assist IT security team to carry out regular security assessments and vulnerability scans to identify and address potential risks.
• Keeping abreast of latest security trends and regulations in payment card industry.
• Resolve any non-compliance raised by card schemes.
• Test and implement mandates from card associations and Bank of Mauritius.

4. Payment System Support and Issue Resolution:

• Providing technical support to merchants, customers, and internal stakeholders regarding payment-related inquiries and issues.
• Collaborating with customer support teams to resolve payment issues and fraud-related matters.
• Documenting and tracking issues, escalating complex problems to software providers.
• Follow change management processes for any patch deployment on production system.

5. Payment System Testing and Quality Assurance:

• Conducting testing activities to ensure proper functioning of payment systems, including end-to-end transaction flows.
• Developing and executing test plans, scenarios, and scripts to validate system functionality and performance.
• Collaborating with software providers to reproduce and resolve any identified issues or bugs.

6. Payment System Enhancements and Projects:

• Participating in requirement gathering and implementation of new payment system features, upgrades or enhancements as required by business teams.
• Collaborating with business users to gather requirements and define project scope.
• Assisting in testing, documentation, and training related to new payment system releases.

Major projects

Below are some of the major projects on which I have been involved for past years:

1. Contactless Cards and terminals.

• Lead project of implementing contactless cards, ensuring compliance with EMVCo specifications.
• Collaborated with card supplier, card personalization team and payment networks to enable contactless technology, enabling secure and seamless transactions.
• Tested card personalization processes, ensuring accurate encoding of information onto the chip.
• Performed certification with card associations.
• Ensured seamless integration of contactless technology with the existing infrastructure, including transaction processing and settlement.
• Conducted training sessions with end-users to educate them on contactless technology and best practices.

2. Android Terminals, Self-Service Terminals for Metro:

• Spearheaded the deployment of Android-based payment terminals and self-service terminals for metro systems, enhancing user experience and convenience.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to define projects objectives, timelines and deliverables.
• Participated in vendor selection and onboarding.
• Conducted functional testing along with users to optimize the performance and reliability of terminals.
• Performed certification (ADVT, MTIP) with VISA, MasterCard and UPI to ensure adherence to industry standards and interoperability with various card schemes.
• Collaborated with Vendors and end-users to ensure business requirements are met.

3. Technology Transformation:

• Participated in a technology transformation initiative aimed at modernizing the payment infrastructure and systems.
• Conducted a comprehensive evaluation of existing systems, identifying areas for improvement and optimization.
• Worked together with services providers and project team to define a roadmap for the technology transformation, outlining key milestones and timelines.
• Oversaw the migration of legacy systems to modern, scalable architectures.
• Worked together with other teams to streamline processes and workflows, resulting in increased efficiency, reduced costs, and improved system performance.

4. Card Fraud Monitoring System:

• Designed and implemented a robust fraud monitoring system to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions in real-time.
• Collaborated with fraud investigators to define and implement fraud detection rules and algorithms.
• Conducted regular system performance assessments, fine-tuning the fraud detection algorithms to optimize accuracy and minimize false positives.

5. Setting up UPI Payment Interchanges (Issuing and Acquiring):

• Led the setup and integration of UPI (Union Pay International) payment interchanges for both issuing and acquiring.
• Worked closely with UPI Team to ensure compliance with UPI standards.
• Conducted thorough testing and certification processes to ensure interoperability and reliability of UPI transactions.

6. National Payment Switch:

• Played a key role in implementation of a national payment switch.
• Collaborated with multiple stakeholders, including service providers and Bank of Mauritius for successful project implementation.
• Led the integration of payment networks and platforms into the national switch, ensuring smooth transaction routing and settlement.
• Conducted rigorous testing and certification processes to validate the reliability and security of the switch.