Citi appointed a data expert from a leading online business as head of Asia Pacific data and analytics. The move is part of a wider trend of e-commerce experts moving into the banking diaspora.
Underlining the importance of data and analytics capabilities and customer insights the U.S. banking group has named Zoher Karu as head of Asia Pacific data and analytics. Karu joins Citi from multinational e-commerce corporation eBay where he was chief data officer, the bank said in a press release.
He joined the global online marketplace in 2013 as a member of the company’s executive team, originally as its first vice president of customer optimization and data. Prior to eBay, he was vice president of marketing analytics and insight at retailer Sears Holdings.
He began his career at global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. after a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Asia is the Global Driver
In this expanded role, reporting to Anand Selva, head of Asia Pacific consumer banking, Karu will have oversight of Citi’s data and analytics capabilities and customer insights across the consumer banking business in Asia Pacific.
As a result, his role will cover 17 out of Citi’s 19 consumer banking markets worldwide. The global consumer bank in Asia is the fastest growing consumer business for Citi globally.
Banking on Technology
Karu joins a growing list of e-commerce and technology experts who are making their way into banking and the financial services industry. Last year ANZ attracted Maile Carnegie to join them as they digitalise the bank, Carnegie was the former managing director of Google in Australia and New Zealand.
Singaporean bank DBS also moved early on to appoint Neal Cross as chief innovation officer in 2014. Before then, he was vice-president of MasterCard Labs in Singapore and worked for Microsoft as a financial services industry director for Asia.
