Barclays strengthens its Corporate Bank in the Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East (ME) regions with two senior appointments to newly established positions. Vijay Shankar U.S. has been named Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Banking for APAC & ME, while Amaar Khan will serve as Managing Director, CIO, and Head of Corporate Banking Technology for APAC & ME. Both Vijay and Amaar will be based in Singapore.

Vijay will further build the Global Transaction Banking business in collaboration with Technology and Operations to deepen and broaden client relationships. He will report to Karen Braithwaite, Global Head of Transaction Banking and Pushkaraj Gumaste, Head of Corporate Banking, Asia Pacific & Middle East.

Amaar will be responsible for developing a technology roadmap and collaborating closely with the International Corporate Bank (ICB) to enhance product capabilities and drive commercial growth across the APAC and ME regions. He will report to Saket Sharma, CIO of Corporate Bank.

“Vijay and Amaar bring rich experience in their respective domains to Barclays. This enables us to better align our client-centric approach with evolving business and technology landscapes”, said Pushkaraj Gumaste, Head of Corporate Banking, APAC & ME. “Both APAC and the ME present growth opportunities for our clients, and the appointments underpin our commitment to drive client engagement and to scale our technology platform”.

Vijay brings over 38 years’ experience including a robust background in Transaction Banking across Asia Pacific. Most recently. Vijay was Executive Director at ANZ Bank where he established Transaction Banking across Asia. Before that, he was at Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

Amaar brings over 27 years of experience in technology, having spearheaded high-impact transformation projects across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Most recently, he was Managing Director, Chief Information Officer, and Head of Engineering for APAC at the Bank of New York (BNY). Before that, Amaar held senior roles at Bank of Singapore, Standard Chartered, Citi, and Credit Suisse.