Bank of Singapore has announced the appointment of Ranjit Khanna as its Global Market Head of Middle East and Chief Executive of its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Branch from April 3, 2023, subject to regulatory approval.

Khanna will be a member of the Bank’s management committee, reporting to Bank of Singapore Chief Executive Officer Jason Moo.

An industry veteran, Khanna succeeds Alexandre Lotfi, who is also the Bank’s Global Chief Risk Officer, as the Chief Executive of the DIFC Branch. Lotfi will return to Singapore to continue in his role as Global Chief Risk Officer. 

Khanna will have 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.

Khanna has over 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. A Singapore national, he has also lived and worked in New York in the United States, as well as Singapore.  He was most recently the Chief Executive of the Singapore office of Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée, as well as its Head of Private Banking for South Asia, leading a team of close to 200 employees across Singapore and Dubai.

Vikram Malhotra, who previously oversaw the business growth of the DIFC Branch from Singapore, will now focus on expanding the bank’s coverage of the Non-Resident Indian Segment across Asia, as Global Market Head of South Asia.

The decision to appoint a management committee member based in DIFC to oversee all the Branch’s functions, including governance and business growth, comes at an opportune time as the Middle East and Africa is poised to see the biggest wealth growth among the world’s regions, based on the Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Report 2022, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Middle East has always been an integral market for us, one in which we have invested significantly by hiring local talent and enhancing technology and infrastructure to continuously improve our proposition for clients in the region. With two separate hubs in DIFC and Singapore now driving our Global South Asia and Middle East business, led by Ranjit and Vikram respectively, this underpins the importance of the region to the bank, and reinforces our commitment to grow the business by ensuring strong leadership on the ground,” said Moo.

“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,” he added. 

Khanna holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Montclair State University in New Jersey, the United States. He completed the Asian Financial Leaders Programme in 2018, an initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to develop senior leadership in the finance industry in Singapore.