Citi has appointed Vikram Singh as its new head of corporate and investment banking for the Philippines, replacing Usman Ahmed in the role, according to an internal email announcement seen by FinanceAsia.
The memo from Agnes Liew, Citi's head of Asia-Pacific corporate banking, together with Will McLane, head of Asean corporate and investment banking, and Aftab Ahmed, Citi country officer for the Philippines, states that Singh will step into the new role on January 1.
Singh is relocating from India, where he is currently head of the public sector group for Citi. The memo praised Singh’s “extensive experience across products and coverage in various geographies.”
Singh has been with Citi since 1999. Before heading the public sector group and heading the local bank in North India, he was the local corporate bank head for South India. He was also made a senior credit officer in 2014; a move the memo says was “in recognition of his sound judgement and balance”.
In the Philippines, Singh will be tasked with ensuring Citi is well represented on the country’s limited number of annual transactions. There has been a relatively small amount of deal flow from the country over the past year but Citi has been involved in some of the standouts.
The US bank was a bookrunner on the Republic of the Philippines’ impressive $2 billion 25-year deal in January 2015, which came with a switch tender offer. It was also joint bookrunner on International Container Terminal Services’s $300 million hybrid perpetual notes in the same month and a follow-up $450 million offering in August.
The appointment of Singh is the second major change in Citi’s management team in the Philippines. Aftab Ahmed was only appointed the bank’s country officer in June, taking over from Batara Sianturi, who moved to become Indonesia country head.
Singh’s predecessor, Usman Ahmed, is moving to become the Citi country officer for Bahrain after three years in the Philippines. He is familiar with the product requirements of the Middle-East region, having previously been the chief executive officer of Citi Islamic bank and global Islamic banking.
