Transaction banking trailblazer: Ebru Pakcan, Citi

THE TRAILBLAZERS

Hari Janakiraman, ANZ Catherine Porter, CBRE John Laurens, DBS Diane Reyes, HSBC Umar Farooq, JPMorgan Damian Glendinning, Lenovo's former treasurer Andrea Melville, Lloyds Lisa Robins, StanChart Ebru Pakcan, Citi Paula da Silva, SEB

As transactions increasingly move online, banks will see growing competition from fintechs, technology and telecommunication companies. 

Payments is the new battleground in transaction banking, so having someone with deep knowledge of the industry is essential. That makes Citi’s head of treasury and trade solutions, EMEA, Ebru Pakcan invaluable.

Between 2008 and 2011 Pakcan was head of payments for EMEA at Citi and between 2012 and 2016, she managed the bank’s global payments and receivables business from New York. Today, Pakcan is head of treasury and trade for EMEA and has more than 800 people reporting to her. 

“In payments, and transaction banking more broadly, we see exponential growth in technology and digitization,” says Pakcan, “but part of this evolution means working with some of the newer, more nimble players out there.