Citi hires former eBay chief data officer

Mr Zoher Karu will head Citi's Asia-Pacific data and analytics.
Mr Zoher Karu will head Citi's Asia-Pacific data and analytics.

Citi has appointed former eBay chief data officer Zoher Karu as its head of Asia-Pacific data and analytics.

Mr Karu will report directly to Citi's Asia-Pacific head of consumer banking, Mr Anand Selva.

Among other things, Mr Karu will "be responsible for driving the use of data to deliver customer value and business growth" in 17 markets, Citi said.

It is believed that the appointment marks the bank's first big data role within its consumer banking unit.

Mr Karu joined eBay in 2013 as part of the executive team, initially as its first vice-president of customer optimisation and data.

Before that, he was vice-president of marketing analytics and insight at retailer Sears Holdings.

Mr Selva said: "Zoher's appointment... is a key part of our digital transformation and overall strategy."

Citi has also made several other technology hires, according to the Financial Times.

In June, it appointed Ms Shinjini Kumar to head retail operations in India. She was previously chief executive at Paytm, an Indian payments and e-commerce company.

The bank has also hired employees from PayPal and Amazon for its financial technology operations Citi FinTech.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 06, 2017, with the headline Citi hires former eBay chief data officer. Subscribe