Citibank taps Prashant Thakker to lead corporate banking operations in South and Southeast Asia

Citibank has appointed Prashant Thakker as the head of corporate bank for South and Southeast Asia, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an internal memo, which a spokesperson confirmed to the news agency. The appointment is effective immediately.

The bank’s South and Southeast Asia markets consist of India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. According to the report, Thakker will oversee the business strategy, financial performance, talent development and execution for Citi's Asia South Corporate Bank across local corporate, financial institution, public sector and global network banking businesses. 

Thakker—a seasoned banker who has been with Citibank for 18 years—joined as a senior banker based in Mumbai, and covered leading corporate houses across infrastructure, mobility and retail sectors, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously worked with Standard Chartered and ICICI Bank. Currently based in Hong Kong, his last designation was the head of Capital Management for North Asia, South Asia and Japan clusters—which cover 16 countries and account for global loan assets in excess of $40 billion. 

According to the report, Thakker will relocate to Singapore, and will report to Jason Rekate and John Chirico, both Global Co-Heads of Corporate Banking, and Amol Gupte, a Citibank veteran, who currently serves as the Head of Asia South Cluster.

In March 2022, Axis Bank had acquired the retail assets of Citi India after a month-long bidding process for a cash consideration of ₹12,325 crore ($1.6 billion), after the latter decided in April 2021 to exit the consumer banking business after a strategic review. At the time of the announcement, Citi India had more than 35 branches across the country. 

The deal included Citi's lucrative credit cards business, with around 2.5 million cardholders at the time of the acquisition, but did not include Citibank’s institutional clientele in India. In July of the same year, the Competition Commission of India cleared the acquisition. 

Citibank had set foot in India in 1902, when it started operations in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in British India and forayed into consumer banking in 1985. In the 1980s and the 1990s, it became one of the first banks in India to offer credit cards, therefore pioneering the plastic money revolution in the country. It was also among the first banks in India to offer mortgages, personal loans, and a fully-fledged online banking system.