Citi Names APAC Trade Head

Citi’s treasury and trade solutions unit promotes its former head of trade finance for Asia Pacific to lead the region’s trade unit. Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) appoints Kanika Thakur as its Asia Pacific trade head, effective immediately, according to a statement. Thakur succeeds Vishal Kapoor was named head of TTS for Citi Hong Kong in May this year.

In her Hong Kong-based role, Thakur reports to Rajesh Mehta, APAC TTS head and Ebru Pakcan, global head of trade.

A career Citi banker, Thakur joined in 2001 as a management associate in India. Since then, she has also worked in Hong Kong and Singapore within trade across roles such as sales and structuring, product management, and distribution. Prior to her latest appointment, Thakur was the APAC head of trade finance.

According to the statement, Thakur takes on the role amidst a «new operating environment» of evolving needs such as «shifts in trade flows, reconfiguration of supply chains and [the] advent of new technologies».

In addition to maintaining our market leadership [in the trade business, Thakur] will also be responsible for charting the course of our future business model in a rapidly changing environment, said Mehta.

Citi’s trade business generated high single-digit growth in 2019 and has also seen an uptick in activity this year amidst an economically challenging environment, the statement added.