Sachi Agarwal

Credit Risk · Corporate Finance · Financial Analysis

Turning complex financials into clearer credit decisions.

Senior Credit Risk Analyst with experience assessing corporate borrowers across international markets, combining fundamental financial analysis, credit judgment, and portfolio risk monitoring.

Dubai, UAE

Open to Senior Analyst / Associate opportunities

~$300MMonthly exposure assessed
$500MLargest individual obligor exposure assessed
180+Credit reviews annually
99%Credit memo approval rate

Expertise

Areas of Expertise

Corporate Credit Analysis

Fundamental assessment of financial strength, repayment capacity, business performance, and transaction risk.

Obligor Risk Ratings

Internal rating assessment incorporating financial, sovereign, parent, industry, and qualitative factors.

Portfolio Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of borrower performance, early-warning indicators, industry conditions, and sovereign risk.

Credit Recommendations

Structured credit memos covering new facilities, annual reviews, renewals, limit increases, and interim reviews.

LiquidityLeverageCash FlowDSCRWorking CapitalCapital StructureIndustry RiskSovereign RiskUnderwritingFinancial Modelling

Process

How I Assess Credit

01

Understand the request

Each month runs two parallel streams — scheduled annual reviews, and new transaction requests flagged by Banking as they arise: new facilities, renewals, limit increases, or interim reviews.

02

Analyse the financials

Request annual and quarterly statements through Banking and spread them — liquidity, leverage, cash flow, profitability, working capital, DSCR, and capital structure.

03

Challenge the numbers

Where the numbers don't hold together, raise questions through Banking and wait for the client's response before proceeding.

04

Assess the wider risk

Layer in management quality, industry conditions, sovereign risk, and parent strength — watching for early-warning signals like negative equity, deteriorating EBITDA, and rolling debt.

05

Derive the rating

Form an internal obligor rating from the financial, sovereign, and parent analysis — or qualitative judgment where financials alone don't tell the full story.

06

Make the recommendation

Write the credit rationale — facility purpose, exposure, risk factors, mitigants — for review by Underwriting and Banking, with Independent Risk as final approver.

Selected Work

Selected Credit Work

01

Complex Corporate Exposure

Scope

Corporate obligors across Morocco, Egypt, and Pakistan, spanning tobacco, FMCG, and other sectors — exposures from $1M to $500M.

Assessment

New transactions, annual reviews, interim reviews, renewals, and limit increases — primarily revolving facilities and corporate cards, alongside letters of credit, guarantees, and loans.

Outcome

Consistent, on-time delivery across the full review cycle — new transactions through renewals — for a materially sized corporate book.

02

Identifying Excess Exposure

Scope

Clients requesting additional facilities while already above existing overdraft or exposure limits.

Assessment

Flagged directly to Banking, reassessed the risk, and recommended rating downgrades or caps on the requested amount.

Outcome

Recommendations accepted multiple times — a repeatable judgment call, not a one-off catch.

03

Higher-Complexity Credit

Scope

Post-promotion, a shift toward negative-equity obligors, higher-risk-country credit, multi-obligor group structures, and complex organizational structures.

Assessment

Same rigor, applied to harder cases — increased stakeholder exposure across Banking, Underwriting, and Independent Risk.

Outcome

Trusted with the portfolio's more complex names — evidence of growing judgment, not expanding authority.

Impact

Impact at Citi

Career progression

Promoted to Senior Credit Risk Analyst within two years — the first on the team to receive it. What changed was the complexity of the work: negative-equity names, higher-risk countries, multi-obligor structures. What stayed constant was the seat at the table — recommendations still go to Underwriting, Banking, and Independent Risk for approval.

Team contribution

One of the earlier members of the team, and helped build what it now runs on — standardized templates, process guides, training material, and credit manuals drafted alongside Risk. Mentored five to eight analysts, some more tenured, and became the first person the team lead turned to with a hard question.

Analytical quality

Fifteen-plus credit memos a month, a ~99% approval rate, and a two-day average turnaround. Risk challenges memos often — the reasoning has held up under that scrutiny, which matters more than never being asked a hard question.

Cross-functional influence

Works constantly with Banking on facility and client detail, with Underwriting on memo review, and with Independent Risk as final approver — regularly coordinating with stakeholders up to Director level across countries and time zones.

Experience

Career

Citibank

Senior Credit Risk Analyst

Oct 2024 – Jul 2026 · Dubai, UAE

Increasing ownership of complex corporate credit — negative-equity obligors, higher-risk countries, multi-obligor groups — alongside team process development and mentoring.

Citibank

Credit Risk Analyst

Nov 2022 – Sep 2024 · Dubai, UAE

Built core expertise in corporate credit analysis, obligor ratings, portfolio monitoring, and structured credit recommendations across a book spanning Morocco, Egypt, and Pakistan.

AMFG

Financial Analyst

Aug 2022 – Oct 2022 · London, UK

Sole finance function at a London-founded manufacturing-automation company, partnering directly with the CEO. Replaced manual billing reconciliation with a Chargebee-based dashboard, cutting month-end close time by roughly 20%.

Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)

Audit Analyst Intern

Jan 2021 – Mar 2021 · Dubai, UAE

Financial testing, materiality analysis, and audit procedures for a Fortune 500 engagement.

Bel Groupe

Assistant Financial Analyst Intern

Aug 2020 – Dec 2020 · Dubai, UAE

Pricing simulations and product-level KPI analysis supporting a ~$1M investment decision across the top three products.

Academic Background

Education

The London School of Economics and Political Science

MSc Accounting and Finance

2021 – 2022 · London, UK

University of Wollongong in Dubai

Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting

2016 – 2020 · Dubai, UAE · Merit Scholarship

ICAEW

ACA Certificate Level / CFAB

Part-qualified

Broader Finance

Beyond Credit

Before Citibank, sole finance function at AMFG — a London-founded, venture-backed provider of AI-powered manufacturing execution systems for 3D printing and CNC machining. Partnered directly with the CEO on finance operations, quarterly forecasting, and with/without-funding scenarios during an active funding round. Earlier exposure to audit (Deloitte) and commercial finance (Bel Groupe) rounds out a background across analysis, controls, and forecasting — alongside credit risk.

Capabilities

Capabilities Index

Credit & Risk

  • Corporate Credit
  • Obligor Ratings
  • Portfolio Monitoring
  • Underwriting
  • Financial Analysis
  • IFRS / Accounting

Finance

  • Financial Modelling
  • Forecasting
  • Corporate Finance
  • Performance Analysis

Tools

  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • S&P Capital IQ
  • Xero
  • Chargebee
  • Confluence

Data & AI

  • SQL (coursework)
  • ChatGPT
  • Claude
  • Perplexity
  • Julius AI

Let's connect.

Open to conversations around credit risk, corporate banking, underwriting and broader finance opportunities.