IQ-EQ appoints new Business Development Director for India

Sukanya Lal has been appointed Business Development Director at Singapore-based investment advisory firm IQ-EQ. Lal is tasked with carving out a network and client pool for IQ-EQ in India’s advisory market.

Lal’s appointment represents an intensified focus for IQ-EQ in India, as it looks to bring its host of investor services to the burgeoning financial market. Lal has been brought on board to manage this expansion, a decision that was informed by her wealth of experience in the financial services sector.

She has an MBA in Finance & IT, and her professional career in the financial space has spanned nearly two decades. She began at Birla Sun Life Insurance, where she was Sales Manager at the end of a three-year spell. She then joined ICICI Prudential, where she spent nearly nine years.

Lal worked her way up at ICICI Prudential over the years, starting as Senior Manager for Distribution at Private & Foreign Banks. Her experience with Business Development began when she was appointed Senior Manager for Product Strategy & Business Development in ICICI Prudential’s International Business Division.

She has since become a business development specialist, most recently as Director for Business Development at FinTech products and services firm SS&C GlobeOp. She will now perform a similar role at IQ-EQ, a new challenge for which she has expressed her readiness and excitement.

“IQ-EQ is one of the top global administrators and I am excited to be joining this fast-growing business as it strengthens its focus on India. The role gives me the opportunity to offer a particularly broad range of services and to work with Indian managers considering offshore jurisdictions – a growth area that is both challenging while at the same time very exciting.”

“I’m also thrilled to be making this next step in Singapore, a leading international financial centre. I am keen to hit the ground running and look forward to working collaboratively with my new colleagues to make IQ-EQ the go-to provider of investor services for Indian clients,” she said.

IQ-EQ’s Managing Director of Funds in Asia Jimmy Leong said he is “delighted” with the addition, describing Lal as a professional with a “strong track record of winning sizeable fund mandates within the Indian market.”

“Sukanya will be working closely with myself and with our international India-focused sales team, which includes senior representatives from the Netherlands and Mauritius as well as Singapore, to grow our client and partner network in India while realising new business opportunities for IQ-EQ in the region.”

IQ-EQ’s suite of services covers a wide variety of areas, including corporate administration services, consolidation & tax compliance services, custody & securitisation services, and a whole host of others. The firm’s work is likely to be cut out in the near future, given that investors will be seeking all the advice they can get to rebuild in the wake of the Covid-19 financial disruption.

Based out of Singapore, the firm joins many other businesses in the country that are shifting their focus to India, as experts paint a promising picture of India’s central position in the Asian economy going forth.