Rapid globalisation of Asia corporates drives demand for innovative solutions: Citi’s Gunjan Kalra
She says Asia is home to a growing number of new, emerging and mid-sized companies that are aggressively pursuing growth
ONE of the most enjoyable parts of her work as a banker, says Citi’s Gunjan Kalra, is its global nature.
Kalra, who was appointed as Asia head of Citi Commercial Bank in August 2023, notes that the ability to interact with different cultures and build relationships with global clients has played a major role in driving her career choices at the bank.
She also enjoys the fast-paced and dynamic environment, as it compels her to look at things in a fresh perspective, especially in the commercial banking space.
“Our clients are phenomenal. You get to know the trends of the future and meet founders whose visions are quite inspiring,” she adds.
As a banker with a background in computer science, Kalra says that she benefited from the company’s culture of seniors mentoring the juniors, and strives to emulate the same now.
“I think the biggest advice I give is, constantly be curious. That will lead you to do things you enjoy, and if you enjoy something, you will excel in that and be authentic to yourself,” she shares. “Finally, nothing beats hard work.”
Here are some excerpts from her conversation with The Business Times:
How did you end up in your role?
I was very inclined towards maths and computer science, but my interest in derivatives piqued when I was doing my Masters. At the time, Citi was hiring people with more scientific backgrounds to build the derivatives business, so I applied for the management associate programme.
After two months of training in London, I joined the derivatives foreign exchange (FX) options team in Singapore.
I then relocated to New York, where I continued to work on the FX derivatives desk, covering Latin America.
I moved back to Singapore in 2010 and joined the corporate sales team in 2013. From there, I worked my way up, running the FX options business again, then building out our solutions franchise. I was then appointed to head the corporate sales franchise.
Last year, the commercial bank role came up. Because I had worked with corporates my entire career, I had to reflect: do I want to go deeper into markets, or add breadth to covering corporate clients?
I really enjoy covering corporate clients, especially the commercial banking segment, which I think is the most exciting segment. And so I ended up applying for this role and getting it.
What is a key trend you see in your area?
Innovation and entrepreneurship is flourishing, especially in Asia. In the last five to 10 years, we have seen a rapid rise of companies going from relatively small-sized to mid-sized to large, multinational organisations.
The rate at which companies are going global is something very unprecedented, and Asia especially is home to a growing number of new and emerging and mid-sized corporates that are aggressively pursuing global and regional growth.
These clients are also really sophisticated. They demand innovative banking solutions. As clients go global, cross-border solutions become very important, and clients want to understand how that can all be done more efficiently.
These clients can scale the way they do because they are digital natives and their capabilities are evolving rapidly, which requires banks like us to be innovative, quick and nimble to match the pace of our clients.
How does this affect your role?
We are very quickly moving to an industry model which will have tailored solutions and content catering to it.
We are now aligned along five industries – digital tech and communications, consumer, healthcare, business and professional services, and industrials – to provide bespoke solutions and services based on the needs of that particular industry.
As we do this, we align better to other businesses such as investment banking, which is organised around the same five pillars.
We have also made big leaps in our product offerings and ensured that all the products that are available to our large corporates are made available to our commercial banking clients.
My role is to build deeper relationships with our clients, ensuring that their needs are met and to give them the best advisory and capabilities, while they are realising their growth visions.
