Mr Rahul Bhargava

Rahul is a Director for Payments Markets Initiatives in the Asia Pacific region, and responsible for a range of SWIFT’s strategic payments initiatives including instant payments, fintech engagement, emerging technologies, regional payments integration, domestic payments market infrastructure renewals & global cross-border payments transformation with SWIFTgpi. In his previous career, Rahul has undertaken various leadership roles across banking, payments, fintech and consulting firms, and has had the opportunity to work across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe in diverse engagements.

Prior to joining SWIFT, Rahul was Head of Asia Pacific Financial Services Practice and Strategic Projects for NTT Data, responsible for establishing the banking & payments portfolio and leading strategic regional initiatives across APAC. Previously, Rahul has played a key role in core transformation programs for global banking clients as a part of Accenture’s Financial Services practice and in Core Banking and Payments Product Management roles with CSC and FIS.

Rahul’s initial career included Product Management for the online cross-border remittances portfolio for ICICI Bank (India’s largest private sector bank). In continuation of his Banking, Payments and Digital experience, he also subsequently led the Retail Banking & Digital Channels program portfolio for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Dubai.

Rahul has an MBA in Information Systems & Marketing.