industry veteran Ranjit Khanna will join Bank of Singapore as its global market head of Middle East and chief executive of its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch, the bank announced on Wednesday (Mar 29).

Khanna was most recently the chief executive of the Singapore office of Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privee, as well as its head of private banking for South Asia, leading a team of close to 200 employees across Singapore and Dubai.

The appointment will take effect on Apr 3, once regulatory approval is secured, the bank said.

With the appointment, Khanna will also become a member of the bank’s management committee, reporting to Bank of Singapore’s newly appointed chief executive officer Jason Moo, it noted.

The current chief executive of the DIFC branch is Alexandre Lotfi, who is also the bank’s global chief risk officer. With Khanna succeeding him, Lotfi will return to Singapore where he will continue serving as global chief risk officer.

Meanwhile, Khanna will gain oversight of all the branch’s functions to drive the strategic business growth of Bank of Singapore in the Middle East, as the bank sharpens its focus on growing its presence in the region, it stated.

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Vikram Malhotra, who previously oversaw the business growth of the DIFC branch from Singapore, will then focus on expanding the bank’s coverage of the non-resident Indian segment across Asia, as global market head of South Asia, it added.

Bank of Singapore said the decision to appoint a management committee member and base him in DIFC comes at an “opportune time” as a Boston Consulting Group report found that the Middle East and Africa is poised to see the biggest wealth growth globally.

The bank also noted “robust growth” in assets under management from clients in the Middle East, pointing out that they hold Singapore in high regard as a “premier financial hub in Asia”, with its economic and political stability and access to global and regional financial markets. 

Bank of Singapore has more than 100 staff members at DIFC currently, ranking it among the largest private banks there, it added. 

Khanna, a Singaporean, has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles across people, product and sales management with leading international banks, of which 13 years were spent in Dubai.

Moo said: “Having spent 13 years in Dubai, Ranjit has built up a strong local network and a deep understanding of the local business environment and regulatory landscape. I am confident that his wealth of experience in other leading financial hubs such as New York and Singapore will uplift our growing Middle East business further.”