Crédit Agricole CIB makes three senior appointments in the UK, Nordic, Benelux and Ireland

Atul Sodhi is appointed Senior Country Officer for the United Kingdom, effective 1^st September 2024, subject to local regulatory authorities’ approvals. Based in London, Atul will oversee the development of the Bank’s UK franchise. He will also join the Bank’s Management Committee. 

Ian Harcourt is appointed Senior Country Officer for the Nordic region, as of 1^st September 2024. Based in Stockholm, Ian will lead the business activities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Ian will continue to drive the development strategy in a region with high potential and where the Bank already has strong positions.

Lise Kessler is appointed Senior Country Officer for the Benelux countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) and Ireland as of 1^st October 2024, subject to local regulatory approval. Based in Brussels, Lise will be responsible for the business activities across the four countries and will notably work on the development of sustainable synergies with other Crédit Agricole Group entities which are also operating in the Benelux region and Ireland.

Atul has over 32 years of banking experience and has been with Crédit Agricole CIB since 1997. He was Head of Coverage for India, based in Mumbai from 2004 to 2007. He became the Head of Loan Syndication business for APAC, based in Hong Kong, between 2007 to 2015 and subsequently the Head of Debt Origination and Advisory for Asia-Pacific from 2015 to February 2018. In March 2018 Atul was appointed Global Head of Debt Capital Markets Corporates, based in Paris. In November 2019, he was appointed Global Head of Debt Capital markets.

Atul’s international experience in Client Coverage, Credit Origination and Syndication and Global Markets businesses are all assets to further develop the UK business.

Ian started his career as an IT consultant and Strategist in Sweden, before joining the RBS group in 1998. He has held various management positions in structured finance, particularly in the commercial real estate and infrastructure sectors, and in coverage for Institutional Investors plus Fund Managers. Most recently and for almost six years, he was Country Head of RBS International in Luxembourg (part of NatWest Group), responsible for Institutional Investor / Alternative Fund Coverage, Fund Finance, Transactional Banking and Depositary Services.

Lise Kessler has over 25 years of experience in the European credit markets and over 30 years of banking experience.

Lise joined Crédit Agricole CIB Distribution and Asset Rotation team in London in 2004, and for ten years, was Head of the Corporate, Financial Institution, and Export Finance Loan Distribution team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lise created the Credit Risk Insurance platform for the Bank in 2014, and since then has been the Global Head of Credit Risk Insurance. Before joining Crédit Agricole CIB, Lise was with the Loan Syndications team at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein for three years and prior to that, she was with JP Morgan for six years.