Tom Pekala

Experience

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  Merrill Lynch

  Jul 1998 - Mar 2002

   In charge of timely compilation and calculation of all financial reports required on weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis by Corporate Reporting, the Federal Reserve, and SEC: I39 – Derivative gross up calculation and booking, FASB 119 – Disclosure of derivative financial instruments and fair value of financial instruments, Derivative Product Group (DPG) disclosure, Non-Investment Grade disclosure (HLT- High Leverage Transactions), weekly and monthly Consolidated Foreign Currency Report of Major Market Participants. Responsible for month-end financial statement closing cycle and legal entity reporting (MLCS is the largest derivative dealer within Merrill Lynch) including reserves and explanation and analysis of movements.  Dealt with internal and external auditors for the quarter end review and reporting. Managed all MLCS intercompany derivatives; responsible for reconciliation, disclosure and elimination of intercompany transactions with over 30 affiliates. Managed business analyst responsible for the reconciliation of intercompany activities. In charge of reconciling and booking of service fees, intermediation fees, and intercompany repo-resale hedging activity. Show less

  • Assistant Vice President - Merrill Lynch Capital Services Legal Entity Control

    Jul 1998 - Mar 2002

  • Financial Analyst – BUC System Project - Global Analytical Finance & Accounting Rotational Program

    Mar 1999 - Sept 1999

  • Product Analyst – Equity Finance BUC - Global Analytical Finance and Accounting Rotational Program

    Jul 1998 - Feb 1999
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  JPMorgan Chase & Co.

  Apr 2002 - May 2004

   Provided project management support for the firm-wide implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Coordinated General Ledger Reconciliation & Substantiation (GLRS) monitoring and reporting process and analyzed the data related to the results for the North America region. Worked closely with businesses and regions to understand issues and challenges related to implementation of GLRS process. Facilitated cross-business and cross-region sharing of such issues and “best practices”. Show less  Managed P&L and Balance Sheet month end close process including reserves and intercompany reconciliations.  Supervised staff of two responsible for daily control and reconciliation processes. In charge of design and maintenance of daily and monthly reconciliation of P&L between source system and general ledger. Responsible for design and maintenance of month end P&L and Balance Sheet substantiation processes. Worked with traders, business management, finance and technology to improve efficiency and control, enhance management information and reporting, and respond to changes in product mix and introduction of new products. Liaised with traders, trade capture and cash control personnel in order to clear all cash and intercompany breaks, as well as, book migrations and creations. Show less

  • Assistant Vice President – Global Finance Control Group

    Feb 2004 - May 2004

  • Assistant Vice President, Credit Portfolio Group Middle Office

    Apr 2002 - Jan 2004
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  UBS

  May 2004 - Sept 2007

  Assistant Director, Cash and Collateral Trading Business Unit Control

   In charge of UBS North America Repo desk. This included Government and Agency Repo, MBS Repo, Credit and Structured Repo. At the time, this was the largest repo desk in North America, with net Balance Sheet position of up to half a trillion in USD and 2005 P&L over 200mm USD. Supervised P&L production and publishing. This included mark-to-market change decomposition (all repo positions were marked to market for Management Reporting) into P&L buckets like curve shift, time decay, new business P&L. In charge of supervising all front to back reconciliation processes which included Actual vs. Implied reconciliation (AVI), which reconciled cash between settlement system and risk system. The desk booked around 10 thousand trades a day, of which 3rd party and intercompany trades were about 60%. These trades needed to be cash settled and reconciled through AVI process. In charge of supervising all inventory, accrued interest, internal (interdesk) trades, funding cost, contra-revenue (trading expenses), and hard transfers. Reviewer of intercompany Balance Sheet and P&L process, Balance Sheet netting process Reviewer of GBSOV - Global Balance Sheet Ownership and Verification process (UBS’ Balance Sheet sign-off platform) and ORA – Operational Risk Application (UBS’ tool for SOX section 404 sign-off). Supervision of staff of four“run the bank” product analysts and one “change the bank” BPI (Business Product Improvement) analyst. Show less

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  Scotiabank

  Sept 2007 - Nov 2013

   Product Control group was created as a middle office function consolidating some of the functions from Operations, Risk, and Finance. As a head of the group, I managed team of 18 professionals whose key responsibilities were validation of the actual P&L by risk factors (P&L waterfall attribution or stage valuation), and reconciliation of P&L to trader’s estimate, to predictive P&L (sensitivity analysis/greeks), and to the General Ledger and sub-ledger. In charge of P&L and Balance Sheet substantiation for derivative products in the following areas: Rates (Toronto and London), Credit, Emerging Markets, Collateral, Offshore trading (SCTL Bahamas). This was 77 trading books in total – primarily mtm, but some hedge accounting books. In charge of all aspects of accounting and risk for the supported businesses from daily P&L production and validation to risk/sensitivity analysis and price/curve testing to accounting and month end balance sheet substantiation and sign off.  In charge of transitioning the team through complete financial infrastructure overhaul including introduction of exception-based reconciliation tools and P&L analysis/decomposition tools. This includes complete redesign of control process and leading the group to transition from data input unit to value added analysis unit. Principal member of working groups for new business initiatives (Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule, EMIR, MiFiD) and new systems implementations. Lead the team through implementation of new front office, back office and accounting systems. Show less  Managed staff of 22 responsible for reporting, reconciliation and sign off of daily P&L for all Scotia Capital Derivative Product business lines/desks including Credit and Equity Derivatives, Rates, Group Treasury, Global Equity Finance, Collateral and Funding P&L.  Responsible for daily and month end front to back reconciliation process for entire Balance Sheet with specific emphasis on cash and payable/receivable accounts. In charge of developing policies and procedures for NPV group. Responsible for assessment and implementation of new controls necessary to comply with new regulatory standards and new business.  Supervision of trading limit monitoring process. Collaborated with Front Office and Market Risk to improve the turnaround time and streamlined the sign off on new limits, amendments, additions, and annual reviews. Worked in partnership with IT team as to implementing solutions and processes for new limits and ongoing automation of existing ones. Show less  In charge of resolving highly complex, multi-faceted problems to meet the business needs of Derivative Product Operations with a specific focus on creating tangible /measurable operational efficiencies through the application of business, financial, and process engineering knowledge. These projects included Limits Monitoring Process redesign, creation and documentation of proper operational controls, working with technology team to overhaul limit reports in Front System, creation of advanced spreadsheets and access databases to improve timeliness and quality of limit breaches reporting. Developed various comprehensive production management metrics that provided necessary MIS to DPO Senior Management and Front Office for decision support purposes. Worked with IT team to design and transfer large-scale manual processes to automation by building business requirements, business cases, and providing process expertise. Assisted with user acceptance testing (UAT). Show less

  • Director – Fixed Income and Derivatives Product Control

    Feb 2012 - Nov 2013

  • Director – P&L Analysis and Market Limits Monitoring; Global Wholesale Services - Derivative Product

    Apr 2008 - Feb 2012

  • Senior Manager – Business Process Engineering Group; Global Wholesale Services - Derivative Product

    Sept 2007 - Apr 2008
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  OMERS Capital Markets

  Nov 2013 - Jun 2015

  Director, Alternative Investment Operations

   Position core scope: In charge of operations for Exchange Traded Futures/Options, Cleared and Bilateral Swaps and Options. This included review of trade captured transactions, affirmation/confirmation, settlement, initial/variable margin settlement with FCM/SCM and custodian, daily pricing review, counterparty valuation reconciliation including investigation of variances effecting daily collateral calls. Monthly KPI reporting including number of late settlements, aging of outstanding confirmations, interest cost, brokerage fees and allocation, various derivative disclosure reports. Leadership: Hired, provided leadership, direction, and management to staff of 10 in order to ensure timely and effective support to investment staff. This included defining required skill profiles, recruiting, training and development, performance management, coaching, development and implementation of plans for their continued growth.  Projects & Control Enhancements: Provided oversight for the deployment of new and additional technical enhancements aligned with Capital Market Division’s overall business technology strategy. This included initiation of enhancement requests, prioritization within the team, running dashboard of internal control enhancements, working with technology team to influence scope, prioritization, and resource allocation to assure that enhancements are implemented as defined by end user, on time and tracked to completion. Mapped existing processes to relevant governing policies. Created/maintained detailed procedures manuals. Assured that procedures are up to date, followed, changed as needed and primary and back up staff has a detailed understanding of the processes they perform. Interdepartmental Initiatives: As a member of senior management team, accountable for supporting strategic responses to new regulatory requirements, new product/portfolio onboarding, satisfying the expectations of internal and external audit. Show less