Murli Buluswar, Citi

Head of Analytics, U.S. Personal Bank

Murli Buluswar Biography

An ‘intrapreneurial’ analytical and strategic C-Suite Financial Services Leader, Murli Buluswar has successfully built alignment and achieved commercial outcomes by challenging conventional processes while harnessing data-driven intelligence. He is adept at reimagining opportunities for innovation within core operations, translating the ideas into concrete potential, attracting top notch talent, and influencing stakeholders. Murli’s sweet spot lies in simplifying and automating business processes, guiding innovation powered by data driven insights.

A former member of The Operating Committee of The American International Group (AIG), Murli has influenced Fortune 100 board members and senior leaders to expand innovative thinking and execution through data insights. As Chief Science Officer for AIG, Murli built a (data) Science team to ‘serve as a catalyst for consistent evidence-based decision making at AIG.’ Science served as an internal data-driven innovation unit with a complementary set of capabilities in: problem structuring, data engineering, behavioral science, data science, and software development. The Science Team helped reduce operating costs, improve loss ratios, increase sales, and engage with customers to reduce risk.

As Head of U.S. Consumer Analytics (USCA), Murli is leading the execution of the vision to ‘be a critical partner in achieving a quantum leap in customer intelligence’ across Citibank’s 30MM+ customer base. USCA is realizing this vision by delivering transformative outcomes on three dimensions: Asking deeper (customer level) business questions, harnessing wider (real-time) data assets, and enhancing algorithm sophistication. USCA is rethinking core decision making through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning driven insights, and embedding advanced models in software solutions.

Prior to Citi, Murli was a Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and two startups. He helped shape clients’ ability to retool decision making powered by data.

Murli’s ~25year career includes innovative advanced analytics roles at the intersection of data and strategy at Progressive (Product Manager) and Farmers Insurance (Head of Insight & Innovation). He began his career at Capital One as a statistician, and has an academic background in Economics & Statistics (Auburn University) and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Murli has published articles, and spoken extensively on how mature firms could achieve innovation powered by data driven intelligence. He is an Advisor to The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and an Executive in Residence at Columbia University, School of Professional Studies. Murli is a supporter of Pratham, a not-for-profit focused on training disenfranchised women and children in India to achieve economic independence. He lives in Tenafly, NJ, and in addition to partaking in Tae Kwon Do, yoga, tennis and platform tennis, Murli is an avid strategy board game player.

Previous Role

Chief Science Officer, AIG