StanChart's Suresh Balaji departs to join Lloyds Banking Group as CMO

Standard Chartered's global head of marketing and communications Suresh Balaji (pictured) has left the firm to join Lloyds Banking Group as its new chief marketing officer, effective from 16 October. 

Relocated from Hong Kong to the U.K., Balaji will oversee the group-wide brand, marketing and experience function. He will also be responsible for creating and maintaining the group’s inclusive and sustainable portfolio of brands, developing marketing strategies, driving creative excellence, and designing customer experiences to contribute to business growth.

Balaji joins Lloyds Banking Group from Standard Chartered Bank, where he was global head of marketing and communications, leading the function across consumer, private and business banking.

Prior to this, he spent 17 years at HSBC where he held various regional, country and global leadership roles, latterly as chief marketing officer for the Asia-Pacific region. His earlier career includes marketing and sales roles at United Breweries, WPP and GSK, according to the release.

Jayne Opperman, chief executive officer for consumer relationships, Lloyds Banking Group, said: "I'm delighted to welcome Balaji to Lloyds Banking Group. As a highly accomplished marketing leader with an outstanding track record in financial services, his passion for creating digital and data-led change will help us make a huge difference for our customers. I know he'll be a great addition to our team."

"To be Lloyds Banking Group’s CMO at this point in its history is truly an honour and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Lloyds Banking Group has helped millions of customers prosper over the course of its history, and there is no better time to be joining than now - to grow our brands, build world-class experiences and get creative for the wide range of customers the Group supports," Balaji said. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Lloyds Banking Group for more information.

Most recently, Lloyds Bank has developed a new solution where clients can request digital direct guarantees or standby letters of credit, helping them to trade more efficiently, safely, and securely. The bank’s paperless guarantee initiative, created to support businesses who have a high volume of transactions requiring bank guarantees to be issued, enables instant delivery to recipients while reducing their carbon footprint.

This is Lloyds Bank’s latest investment in supporting the move towards digitising trade and closely follows its successful completion of the first digital trade transaction under the UK’s new Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) when it came into force on 20 September. 

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