Zachariah to leave AIIB for London role


Benny Zachariah is understood next week to be exiting his role as senior investment officer for financial institutions and syndications at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing for a new role in London.

Zachariah is understood to be returning to London to assume the role of head of CEEMEA loan syndicate at JP Morgan. Joining the dots, it is likely that he will report to Puja Turner, head of CEEMEA loan and structured credit.

IJGlobal reported in June 2019 that Zachariah was leaving his London-based role as head of global loan syndications at ICBC to join AIIB that September as part of the organisation’s goal to build out its syndications function.

Two-and-a-half years later, having set up the function that allows the multilateral to sell down debt and promote greater activity, he has been lured back to London where he is well-known in project finance and infrastructure circles.

Prior to AIIB and ICBC, Zachariah joined WestLB in 2007 during the German bank’s nerve-wracking transition to its (far less exciting) successor – Portigon.

During his time at Portigon, Zachariah rose to associate director for EMEA loan syndications, before joining ICBC in syndications and sales in April 2013, where he was promoted to global head of that section after 2 years.