Kripa leads Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, and Engagement across Asia at Synchrony, driving strategic HR transformation. With 20+ years across Asia, India, and the Middle East, she brings deep expertise in talent strategy, leadership development, and organizational design from global banks and leading corporations.
In an engaging interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Kripa shares her insights on how evolving macroeconomic trends and regulatory shifts, are reshaping talent strategy in Asia’s finance industry. She talks about the strategies and approaches being leveraged by consumer financial services company, Synchrony to strengthen its talent strategy, embrace digital transformation in HR, and device innovative talent strategies.
To know more about Kripa Krishnamoorthy’s thoughts on leadership development, and HR transformation across Asia’s financial services industry, read the interview below.
In the current market landscape, how are evolving macroeconomic trends and regulatory changes shaping talent strategy and leadership development across Asia’s financial services industry?
As the financial services sector globally navigates a volatile macroeconomic landscape, paired with increasing regulatory scrutiny, we’re witnessing a shift in how talent strategy is evolving —especially in Asia.
Asia is the fastest growing economic region, as well as the largest continental economy by both GDP Nominal and PPP in the world. Asian GDP is over twice that of the Americas, 3 times that of Europe and 8 times Africa. It also has 60% of the World’s population and has the most diversity within the continent. With India and China playing catch up on the developed countries, the financial markets not just in these countries but across Asia have become more sophisticated.
At Synchrony, we view these macroeconomic fluctuations as catalysts for redefining resilience within our talent ecosystem. With presence in India and Philippines, Asia has always been a Talent hub for us but increasingly it is becoming integral to the strategic evolution globally.
To enable this evolution, it’s no longer sufficient for us to hire for current capability—we are hiring potential, and along with it for empathy, curiosity, and foresight. These skills are critical to staying core to our values and future focused.
Our continued investment in leadership development sessions ensure that our leaders are consistently engaging with frontline realities, analyzing customer journeys, technological advancement and applying those insights to enhance business strategy by creating an edge.
Simultaneously, the evolving regulatory environment in Asia, particularly around data privacy, ESG disclosures, and digital governance—demands leaders who can bridge compliance with innovation.
We embed regulatory fluency into our leadership development programs, equipping managers to navigate complex legal frameworks without stifling experimentation. This is especially relevant in high-growth markets like India and the Philippines.
Our approach to leadership will always be grounded in listening to our employees, clients, and partners - anchored on behavioral data, frontline insights, and a deep understanding of the socioeconomic drivers impacting our people and customers.
Given the current market volatility, how do you balance innovative HR digitization initiatives with traditional talent management within highly regulated financial institutions?
Balancing innovation with foundational talent practices requires a dual-lens strategy, one that honors regulatory responsibility while fostering a culture of experimentation. At Synchrony, this balance is often achieved through the framework of our values, which are lived and intentional experiences.
We embrace digital transformation in HR not merely as a technology or efficiency upgrade, but as a strategic lever to deliver a uniform and elevated employee experience no matter where the employee is, to boost productivity, and democratize access to opportunities.
A strong culture of listening, through continuous feedback loops and employee input, guides our efforts, ensuring that digitization is grounded in real needs.
This approach has led to the refinement of frontline tools, improved user experience, elevated career experiences critical to developing our unique leadership across our geographies, and stronger customer service outcomes.
It has also allowed us to modernize our performance management cycle, to have three conversations with the employee manager and to enable a discussion about where feedback to be provided in the moment it can be acted upon, without it being a mere rating scale.
At the same time, core principles of talent development remain a priority - coaching, continuous learning, and psychological safety. Human-centered initiatives, including experiential learning programs and first-time manager bootcamps, provide structured support even as digital tools to expand access and personalization.
In a regulated environment, the commitment that transformation will be made is based on trust. That’s why we embed compliance, ethical AI usage by keeping the ‘Human in the loop’ and data governance into every innovation initiative. This dual focus helps us move fast as we evolve to meet the needs of our multi-generation employees.
Considering market disruptions and rapid digitalization, how are you leveraging behavioral economics principles to inform innovative talent strategies and enhance leadership coaching effectiveness?
Behavioral economics offers critical insight into how people make decisions, especially under uncertainty—making it a powerful framework for talent strategy in today’s disrupted world. At Synchrony, we integrate these principles to design nudges, experiences, and systems that align individual motivations with organizational outcomes and create an environment for peak performance.
For example, micro-interventions rooted in behavioral science—short, 60-second experiences are designed to reduce stress and improve mental clarity in high-pressure roles.
These interventions recognize that well-being isn’t about hour-long training, but about meeting employees where they are, in the flow of their work.
We also apply behavioral insights to leadership development. Our coaching programs increasingly focus on habit formation, feedback loops, and intrinsic motivation. Leaders are not just trained; they are coached to observe, reflect, and adapt—moving from reactive to anticipatory leadership.
How do you strategically integrate women’s development and cross-cultural leadership insights into transformative HR practices that drive sustainable growth in the financial sector?
Women’s leadership and cross-cultural competence are no longer optional—they’re essential to navigating complexity and building resilient organizations in today’s financial landscape. At Synchrony, we believe that investment in these two pillars has helped us build a unique culture since we IPOed independent from GE, about a decade ago.
Our leadership development programs are deliberately designed to foster inclusion at every level. Through early career pathing, targeted mentoring, and robust development tracks for first-time managers, we ensure that women have the access, environment and training is just as critical. We also invest in data-driven diagnostics to understand the specific barriers women face across geographies and functions, tailoring interventions to address them in meaningful ways.
We’ve moved beyond the idea of fixing the pipeline to creating systemic enablers for all employees, especially women and multicultural talent at every stage of their career.
This includes mentorship programs, leadership accelerators, and flexibility models that recognize the intersection of career, caregiving, and community roles—particularly relevant in Asia- including large-scale programs where the senior most leaders join and respectfully discuss diverse opinions. It is an experience that needs to be participated in at least once to be understood!
Our Asia talent strategy emphasizes not just cultural awareness, but cultural fluency—helping leaders adapt to their style, communication, and expectations across markets. This is where our regional hubs, cross-market mobility programs, senior leaders who have worked in both our large locations and functional connect sessions become powerful vehicles for shared learning and transformation.
Ultimately, these initiatives are not stand-alone—they’re embedded into how we hire, promote, reward, and develop talent. By aligning them with business metrics and culture-building efforts, we ensure that our approach to inclusion fuels innovation and long-term value creation.
