Rajeev Chalisgaonkar

Rajeev Chalisgaonkar is the Group Head of Business Banking for Mashreq Bank, and he also heads Mashreq’s highly successful SME focused digital neobank, NeoBiz. He was previously Global Head of Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. Rajeev has more than 30 years of experience in Corporate, Commercial and Retail Banking across diverse geographies including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India. In his previous assignments, Rajeev has held leadership roles in Corporate and SME Banking in Barclays Bank and Citigroup. He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a Bachelors in Engineering from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, India.

Rajeev has been in leadership roles in SME Banking for over 20 years now and is an acknowledged thought-leader in this space. He is passionate about helping SMEs with banking and financing solutions that help them grow and protect their businesses. He has been an active contributor to the SME Finance Forum right from its inception, and he is a member of the Governing Council of the Forum.

Rajeev speaks frequently on topics ranging from digital SME lending, alternative data, and digital SME onboarding to SME sales & coverage models, organization design, woman entrepreneurs, and the importance of ESG for SMEs.