Corporate and Commercial Lending

Chetan has over 20 years of experience across the financial services sector’s markets, geographies and asset classes. At Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity), he spearheads Business Development for multiple strategic business units (IB, Private Markets, Consulting, Corporates, and Banking). During his almost seven years journey at Acuity, Chetan has been responsible for partnering with clients in these segments to transform and build business efficiencies through tailor-made and proprietary solutions, enabling them to save millions of dollars.

Prior to Acuity, Chetan was on the Board of Directors at CRISIL US, an S&P company, and Director and Head of Financial Research, Business Development, Americas. In his 13+ years 'journey at CRISIL, Chetan managed multiple roles, including setting up and leading the Equities practice in Indian markets, wherein he successfully launched India’s first independent equity research service provider, and setting up and heading CRISIL’s first international offshore operations in Argentina. Prior to CRISIL, Chetan worked with ING Bank and Citibank in multiple roles. He has featured consistently in media including on CNBC-TV18 and Bloomberg, and his views on Indian stock markets are covered widely by all leading financial publications.

Chetan is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (the equivalent of a CPA) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds an MBA in Finance from NMIMS, India. He is also a Company Secretary (with a degree in Corporate Law) with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He passed CFA Level 2 examinations.

Subhro has been with Acuity Knowledge Partners for over 8 years. He has 15+ years of extensive experience in credit analysis in the lending, counterparty and credit research domain. Subhro manages transition of new clients encompassing the credit analysis function across different lending lines of business. He has extensive work experience in banking products, process and systems across the lending value chain for global as well as regional corporate and commercial banks. He holds a Master of Commerce degree from Calcutta University.

Rajul heads the commercial lending practice at Acuity Knowledge Partners and has been with the firm for over 15 years. She is responsible for strategic planning, delivery oversight and management, quality assurance and supporting the innovation and technology initiatives in Lending. Rajul has extensive experience in investment banking analytics and commercial lending research services. Apart from banks, the teams she oversees also have in-depth experience in working across different lending products, processes and systems for Fortune 100 companies, SMEs and real-estate businesses. She holds a Master of Finance and Control, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Delhi University.

Pedro Armstrong is a Managing Director at Acuity Knowledge Partners and leads business development efforts in the Americas for the Corporate and Commercial Banking, Buy-side, and Sell-side segments. He is responsible for managing key client engagements and works in partnership with capital market firms to provide customized solutions across research and analytics support, origination and lending support, and marketing and compliance support. He has been with the organization for 12 years, serving in various roles across Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, and now the US. Prior to joining Acuity Knowledge Partners, he was a Central Bank Regulator at the Central Bank of Barbados. Pedro, who is a British Chevening Scholar, holds a Master’s degree (honors) in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, City University, London.

Balaji Ramakrishnan leads Europe and Middle East business development for Acuity. Having spent his formative years in core banking technology operations, he brings a deep understanding of credit processes and the ability to make analytics-driven decisions. He works closely with senior client stakeholders as a trusted partner, shaping the business case for scaled efficiencies through centralisation, standardisation and intelligent automation within Commercial Lending and Asset Management verticals.

Balaji has established long-term partnerships with banks, asset managers and insurance firms across a number of front and middle office transformation initiatives over the past 20 years. Prior to Acuity, he worked at Accenture and Oracle, serving European financial services clients. He holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Marie Filotti heads APAC Business Development at Acuity Knowledge Partners and is based in Hong Kong. She joined the firm in 2018 after 13 years in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, mainly at Nomura (previously Lehman Brothers), and also worked on the corporate side, having run Investor Relations at a China-based ASX-listed gas company. She uses her experience in the industry to advise our clients on best practices in implementation of engagements across all sectors. Marie holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from Sciences-Po Paris.

Kaushik Biswas is a Director with Acuity Knowledge Partners, managing strategic client relationships and exploring new opportunities across the Middle East region. He joined the business in 2005, and is based in our London office with frequent travels to the region.

He has been with Acuity for over 14 years in a variety of roles. His last role within the firm was heading the Global Account Management function with teams across New York, London and Hong Kong. He has been part of the Corporate Development team looking after M&A and Integration as well as managed multiple large sized delivery teams based in India.

Before Acuity, Kaushik worked in the Sales and Business Development team for Ford and Toyota before joining the Analytics team for GE Capital International Services where he worked until 2005.