Joiel Akilan

Executive Director & Chief Representative – BBVA, S.A. India


A senior career banker who has headed several foreign banks Rep office in India. He was responsible for setting up BBVA, S.A. Representative Office in India in 2007. He is responsible for developing various banking businesses in the Indian sub-continent. He also set up the FII Business for BBVA as well as the MOU’s with banks in India for joint ventures and co-operation. He has brought in several large corporate clients and built a loan book that runs in to billions of dollars. He is in charge of Corporate and Investment banking, Financial Institutions, Public sector and Central banks in the region covering from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Mauritius, Maldives etc.

Prior to working in BBVA, Mr. Joiel Akilan was the Country Head for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for the Italian bank, Intesa Sanpaolo. Prior to that he has worked with Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG (RZB Austria) as Deputy Representative – South Asia, Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank.

He also is the Vice Chairman of the Federation of European Business Group board and also the Chairman of Mumbai Council of European Business Group. He is also on the invited member of the Board of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is also on the Board of the Indo-Spanish Chamber of Commerce. He is also on the Fintech Committee of The Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is also the President of the Board of Logos Management Club. He was earlier on the Board of the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Council of EU chambers of commerce in India. He was also the member of the CII Latin American and Caribbean Committee.

He graduated in Production Engineering and has done Post graduation in Business Management and also has a degree in Law (LLB). He has completed a Corporate Management Program from IESE Business School, Spain.

He was selected as one of the participants representing India at the Special Leadership Seminar conducted by the Haggai Institute in Maui, Hawaii, USA in July 2009.