Piyali Williams

Piyali has spent the last 20 years in financial services, specialising within the Commercial & Corporate segment, with a particular focus on liquidity management. She joined Santander as Head of Liquidity Solutions in September 2016 leading product & proposition management of the Corporate deposit portfolio, as well as taking responsibility for driving the sales pipeline and origination activities to support the delivery of strategic, regulatory and commercial targets including new business growth.

Prior to joining SCCB, Piyali worked at Barclays, with roles in e channels, liquidity and change management, delivering on product development and strategic programmes. She managed key change programmes as the lead business interface in defining key requirements and delivering a pan European end-of-day sweeping proposition. At HSBC, Piyali built and delivered the Professionals sector, defining and building tailored propositions and solutions for the client base and creating a new market presence.

She is a woman of inspiration and consistently helping female colleagues feel more empowered to fulfil their true potential. She leads by example and is a role model for women and girls across banking.

Piyali has been nominated for the 2019 Award for Achievement.

How does it feel to be nominated for a WIBF Award for Achievement?

It’s a great honour to be recognised and nominated by colleagues.

Can you tell us about your career path that lead you to your current role?

I joined on the most flexible graduate programme that I could find as I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. Experience within a Corporate rotation made me decide to focus in that particular segment and after embarking on several roles in cash management I decided that this would be a good area to specialise in as I enjoyed the subject matter and it offered a diverse range of areas that I could gain experience within. Deposits are fundamental to the survival of any bank and will always be important. Since the 2008 financial crisis have become a pivotal area for banks to focus on so is an extremely exciting place to be.

You are a Lead tutor on The Young Leaders Program, what does that involve?

The programme focuses identifying and nurturing the next generation of leaders within Santander. As part of the initiative, 280 young leaders from the growuip participate in different forums to provide their feedback on strategic matters and shape the future of the bank. My role is to validate on the issues they focus on, provide coaching and act as a sounding board to their ideas and help them understand how to face problems and challenges to develop creative and valuable solutions

How do you think men can best support women with regards to equality?

From the onset they should be deliberately focused on creating and recruiting a diverse workforce. That’s not just about recruiting women to achieve a quota but bringing in the right skill sets and ensuring that different mindsets and approaches are part of the team. This will naturally see an increase in fairness and equality across the workforce without succumbing to a tick box exercise.

If you could change one single thing about Corporate Banking what would it be?

For more people to have the confidence that they have the ability and support to change things that don’t work. Change may happen in small increments but it takes people to raise the issues and come up with solutions to address these to make it happen.

How do you like to relax?

I like to exercise and spend time with the family. I’m also partial to Netflix and a glass of wine!