Malhotra joins the firm from The Danamon Group, Indonesia, where he was chief risk officer and a board member. Prior to this, he spent 20 years at Citigroup, most recently as chief risk officer at Citigroup Private Bank, India.

In his new Mumbai-based role at Merrill Lynch, Malhotra will report jointly to Rahul Singhal, chief risk officer Asia Pacific, and Barbara Taylor, senior credit risk executive for Asia Pacific. 

In his new role Malhotra assumes overall responsibility for the India risk function, as well as the country’s individual risk functions (including credit, market, operational and compliance risk). He will also manage the portfolio risk and credit approval responsibilities for the bank’s corporate lending activities in India.