Mr. Rajeev Kakar is a seasoned banker, business founder, entrepreneur, and Corporate Board Member with over three decades of global banking experience and expertise in financial services, especially in Emerging Local Corporate/Commercial/MSME/Retail Banking, across multiple countries globally with focus on high-growth emerging markets in the Asia Pacific/China, Europe, Indian Sub-Continent, MENA/GCC, and Central/Eastern Europe regions.
Mr. Kakar has a strong track record of successfully operating large banks, financial institutions and leading business turnarounds, with a demonstrated ability to conceptualize and execute multi-country business strategies, lead acquisitions and business/digital transformations, launch green-field financial services businesses, and deliver profitability over a sustained period, while contributing to the community and actively serving on several prominent boards across different countries.
He started his career at Citibank NA where he worked for two decades and in his last role was the Regional CEO – Turkey/Middle East/Africa region until 2006. He moved as the Global Co-Founder of Fullerton Financial Holdings, Singapore where he served for 13 years on the Global Management Board as its Executive Vice President and Global Head of Consumer Banking, and the CEO- CEEMEA region of Fullerton Financial from 2006-2017. While doing this role, he simultaneously also was the founder of Dunia Finance LLC, Fullerton’s UAE subsidiary, which he operated as its Founder Managing Director and CEO until 2018.
Mr. Kakar also serves on several Bank and Financial Institution boards – namely, Eurobank Ergasias SA (Greece), Gulf International Bank (GIB Bahrain), Gulf International Bank (GIB Saudi Arabia), Commercial International Bank (Egypt), and UTI Asset Management Company (India). He is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business since 2009.