A Citigroup executive has been named president of Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service.
Neeraj Sahai, who has been head of Citigroup’s securities and fund services business since 2005, will succeed Douglas Peterson, who became president and chief executive of the parent company, McGraw Hill Financial, on Nov. 1.
Noting Mr. Serai’s experience in global markets, Mr. Peterson said that “his insights, leadership and background in driving growth, as well as in risk, control and governance will be enormously valuable to Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.â€
Mr. Sahai will take the reins of the ratings agency at a time when questions have been raised about whether it is winning business by offering more favorable ratings. S.&.P. is currently fighting a civil fraud lawsuit filed in February by the Justice Department, which accuses it of inflating its ratings to get jobs grading subprime mortgage bonds before the financial crisis.
At Citigroup, Mr. Sahai was was chief financial officer of the bank’s global transactions services from 2002 to 2005. Before that, he head of audit and risk review for the capital Markets and banking businesses. A graduate of the University of Delhi, he has an M.B.A. from Clarkson University. He joined Citigroup in 1984.
