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Employee Stories

Lavy Stokhamer

Enabling Secure Growth for Affluent and Cross-Border Banking

Lavy Stokhamer

A conversation with Lavy, Managing Director and Global Head of Cybersecurity Operations and Financial Crime Technology at Standard Chartered.

Lavy Stokhamer leads Standard Chartered’s global cybersecurity operations and financial crime technology agenda. His remit spans large-scale platforms, advanced analytics, and operational resilience across the Bank’s international footprint. Since joining in 2020, he has focused on building industrial-grade capabilities that scale across markets while enabling secure growth in areas such as affluent banking and cross-border transactions.

What inspired you to join us?

Standard Chartered’s unique global footprint, strong presence in cross-border banking, and focus on internationally mobile and affluent clients were immediately compelling. The opportunity to build cyber and financial crime technology capabilities that operate consistently across regions, regulatory environments, and client journeys made this a rare and meaningful challenge. It was clear the Bank was investing for the long term, with technology and risk management positioned as strategic differentiators.

Can you share an exciting project you’re currently working on?

A core focus of my role is strengthening how cybersecurity and financial crime technology platforms are engineered and operated globally, particularly for high-value and cross-border activity. This includes modernising detection, investigation, and response capabilities, increasing automation, and embedding advanced analytics and AI across cyber, fraud and financial crime domains. The objective is to protect clients and the Bank while enabling seamless, trusted cross-border experiences for affluent and internationally active customers.

What has shaped your approach to leadership in cyber and financial crime technology?

Before my career in technology and cybersecurity, I was a professional judo athlete, which strongly influenced how I think about risk and strategy. In judo, success depends on balance, timing, and using momentum effectively. The same principles apply to managing cyber and financial crime risk, especially in complex cross-border environments. It’s not only about controls, but about anticipation, intelligent prioritisation, and coordinated response across teams and systems.

How would you describe the culture within your technology organisation?

The culture is highly collaborative, diverse, and execution-focused. Teams across cybersecurity and financial crime technology work closely with business and product partners to support client growth while managing risk responsibly. Psychological safety and inclusion are practical enablers of better engineering, stronger risk outcomes, and consistent delivery across markets.

What has been your proudest achievement?

Building strong, globally distributed teams that operate as one has been my proudest achievement. Supporting affluent and cross-border banking at scale requires deep trust, shared accountability, and alignment across regions. Creating that operating model has enabled teams to innovate while delivering resilient, regulator-ready outcomes.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your role?

Operating at global scale while maintaining agility remains a constant challenge. Legacy complexity, diverse regulatory expectations, and evolving threat and financial crime patterns require disciplined execution and long-term thinking. Addressing this means focusing on common platforms, strong data foundations, and automation rather than fragmented solutions.

Which trends are you most optimistic about?

The convergence of cybersecurity, financial crime, data, and AI is reshaping how banks support secure cross-border growth. Advanced analytics, graph-based techniques, and automation are enabling earlier risk detection, faster investigations, and more intelligent decision-making. When built on strong data foundations, these capabilities help protect clients while enabling frictionless international banking.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I enjoy spending time with my family and exploring Singapore. Staying active is important to me, and recently that has included practicing Muay Thai together with my kids. Training alongside them is both grounding and energising, and it reinforces values like discipline, resilience, and focus that carry through into my professional life.