The American Bankers Association (ABA) named Sayee Srinivasan as chief economist and head of research.
In his new role, Srinivasan will manage a staff of economists, data scientists, and analysts to build and maintain research and data capabilities that will allow the association to serve as the industry’s trusted source of data and analytics. He also will provide strategic direction for industry surveys and benchmarking studies on critical issues and coordinate with banker committees and ABA policy experts to identify and response to the association’s research and data needs.
“Sayee brings an impressive mix of government service, academic training and private-sector experience that will serve him well in this critically important role,” Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO, said in a release. “His deep understanding of policy issues and his range of experience in both the public and private sectors will be an asset as ABA continues to expand its economic and research portfolio.”
Prior to joining the ABA, Srinivasan served as deputy director of risk surveillance for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). While there, he also directed commission efforts related to lessons learned from COVID-19’s impact on the financial system and represented the CFTC in efforts to reform interest rate benchmarks.
Srinivasan also served as senior economic advisor to the CFTC chairman on the impact of bank capital rules on cleared derivative markets, quantitative analysis of risk in the over-the-counter derivatives markets using regulatory data, swap market structure and other areas, and as chief economist, directing applied research on issues related to derivatives market structure including liquidity, automated trading, risk transfer across futures and swaps markets, clearing and settlement. He also supported the chairman, commissioners, and agency staff in policy development, rulemaking, and implementation on issues pertaining to derivatives and related markets.
Besides his work at the CFTC, Srinivasan also worked in product and market development roles for securities and derivatives exchange in the U.S. and in India.