Dedicated NRI model
EFG International
A recent GSA entrant — building Zurich, Singapore and Dubai NRI desks entirely from rivals' benches.
Dedicated NRI team
Yes
Strategy tenure
since May 2023 (first dedicated global-NRI hires in Zurich)
India onshore arc
Never onshore
Hubs
Dubai, Singapore, Switzerland
EFG covers Indian-origin wealth through a 'Global South Asia' (GSA) desk structure layered onto its CRO-led private banking model. Zurich relationship managers hired from Credit Suisse have covered 'the global non-resident Indian (NRI) market' since May 2023 under the head of private banking Middle East; a Singapore Market Head GSA (Vikram Nimkar, ex-FAB) was added in October 2025 under GSA Market Group Head Ravi Ramakrishnan; and ex-Bank of Singapore DIFC chief Ranjit Khanna took over as CEO of the Dubai Advisory Office (opened 2019, 60+ professionals) effective 26 August 2026. The build rides EFG's group hiring engine of 50-70 new client relationship officers per year.
Why it matters
EFG is a recent arrival in the Global South Asia arms race and is buying seniority rather than growing it: ex-Credit Suisse NRI books in Zurich (2023), an ex-FAB market head in Singapore (2025), and Bank of Singapore's DIFC chief to run Dubai (2026). With a standing 50-70-CRO-a-year hiring budget and record group results, it is the bidder to watch in the next round of NRI banker churn — though its desk remains sub-scale next to incumbents.
By the numbers
CHF 196.3bn
Group AUM at end-June 2026, up 21% year-on-year (above CHF 200bn after Quilvest completion on 21 July 2026)
Private Banker International · Jun 2026
50-70
New client relationship officers EFG targets hiring per year in the 2026-2028 strategic cycle
EFG International media release · Nov 2025 · self-reported
The journey
Ex-Bank of Singapore DIFC chief Ranjit Khanna becomes CEO of EFG's Dubai Advisory Office
Khanna, a Singaporean national with 'more than 30 years of international private banking experience', was previously 'DIFC Chief Executive at Bank of Singapore', where he headed 'the private banking business serving clients across the Middle East, Europe and Global South Asia'. EFG's Dubai office, opened in 2019, has more than 60 professionals; Dubai is described as 'one of the group's key strategic growth hubs for its longer-term expansion in the Middle East'.
Record H1 2026: AUM CHF 196.3bn (+21%), tops CHF 200bn after Quilvest closes
H1 2026 net profit rose 5% to CHF 184.6m on net new assets of CHF 5.7bn (6.2% annualised). AUM reached CHF 196.3bn at end-June 2026, a 21% year-on-year increase, and passed CHF 200bn after the Quilvest Switzerland acquisition completed on 21 July 2026.
2026-2028 strategic plan: ~15% p.a. profit growth on a 50-70-CRO-per-year hiring engine
At its investor day EFG presented a 2026-2028 plan targeting 'double-digit profit growth of around 15% p.a.', average annual net new asset growth of 4-6%, and continued hiring of 50-70 new CROs per annum — the group growth engine behind the GSA/NRI desk build-out.
EFG International media release · TipRanks (date confirmation)
EFG adds FAB hires Nimkar and Batra to its Singapore Global South Asia desk
Vikram Nimkar appointed Market Head, Global South Asia (GSA), and Shonali Batra Client Relationship Officer, GSA, both based in Singapore. Nimkar (30 years' experience; ex-First Abu Dhabi Bank Head of Private Banking Asia; earlier Westpac, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO) reports to GSA Market Group Head Ravi Ramakrishnan; Batra (20+ years; managed UHNW/HNW non-resident Indian clients across Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi at FAB; earlier LGT, ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered) reports to Market Head Hussain Poonawalla.
EFG stands up its Singapore Global South Asia desk — Ravi Ramakrishnan named GSA Market Group Head
EFG Bank appointed Ravi Ramakrishnan Market Group Head, Global South Asia (GSA) at its Singapore branch, effective immediately, reporting to Singapore branch CEO Tho Gea Hong, with a mandate to drive EFG's growth in the GSA market. Ramakrishnan brings 30 years in private banking, 'most recently as managing director and head of GSA and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore' (earlier DBS, HSBC, RBC and Clariden Leu). EFG simultaneously named Alex See Market Group Head, Greater China (ex-Bank of Singapore). This is the leadership hire that stood up EFG's Singapore GSA desk — well over a year before the October 2025 Nimkar/Batra additions that reported into it.
EFG hires ex-Credit Suisse NRI bankers in Zurich to cover the global NRI market
Chandan Gupta joined as relationship manager and Sanjeev Sharma as senior relationship manager, both from Credit Suisse, based in Zurich, to 'cover the global non-resident Indian (NRI) market'. Both report to Francois Farjallah, head of private banking in the Middle East. Gupta's prior roles include Julius Baer, Bank of Singapore and DBS Bank; Sharma's include Julius Baer, Bank of Singapore, Standard Chartered, J.Safra Sarasin and Citigroup.
EFG installs a CEO over its Dubai Advisory Office — the Middle East hub it built from 2019
EFG International named Ali Sandila chief executive of its Dubai Advisory Office. Sandila had 'joined EFG International in 2019 when the firm set up its Dubai office' and was 'expected to lead the firm's expansion efforts in the UAE'. The office — opened in 2019 and since grown to more than 60 professionals serving private banking clients across the region — is the Middle East hub onto which EFG later layered its Global South Asia / NRI leadership: ex-Bank of Singapore DIFC chief Ranjit Khanna became the office's CEO effective 26 August 2026.
Connections
Featured in: The Credit Suisse collapse seeded the modern NRI arms race · Bank of Singapore: the NRI sector's involuntary academy
9 sources · all linked
Private Banker International · finews.com · EFG International media release · TipRanks (date confirmation) · Hubbis · finews.com · WealthBriefing Asia · finews.com · Funds Global MENA