#283 How to Build a Finance Function That Scales for 5+ Years, Rishi Oberoi, Deputy CFO and CAO, Varo Bank

About this episode

In this episode, Kevin Appleby discusses with Rishi Oberoi how to build a scalable finance function that can adapt over five years amidst changing business environments.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YwnZv8yNCPYP1osEaVFY6 In a world where business models, technology, and regulation can all shift in a single planning cycle, building a finance team and infrastructure that still works five years from now is a strategic necessity. Short‑term fixes and ad hoc processes quickly turn into bottlenecks as organizations grow and face deeper scrutiny from investors and regulators. In this episode, Kevin Appleby speaks with Rishi Oberoi , Deputy CFO and CAO at Varo Bank , about designing a finance function that scales for the long term. Rishi frames finance as a leadership system that enables organizations to move fast without breaking trust, drawing on two decades in global banking, fintech, audit, and capital markets. Together, they explore why scalable finance is as much about people and principles as it is about processes and platforms. Rishi highlights empathy, humility, and storytelling as core leadership traits, and explains how AI can act as a control sentinel and efficiency driver while preserving customer trust and regulatory rigor in a mission‑driven bank. Key topics covered: Finance should be designed and run as a leadership system, where…

People in this episode

Host: Kevin Appleby

Guest: Rishi Oberoi

Topics covered

• finance function
• scalability
• leadership system
• AI in finance
• values-based hiring
• compliance

Keywords

• finance team
• infrastructure
• business models
• technology
• regulation
• empathy
• humility
• storytelling
• control sentinel

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Varo Bank

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