Ashwani Aggarwal

Ashwani Aggarwal is a senior financial services executive with over 25 years of experience transforming risk management, strengthening governance, and leading complex institutions through regulatory and digital change. He brings a distinctive blend of strategic insight, regulatory expertise, and technical acumen to help organizations enhance oversight, restore regulatory confidence, and drive sustainable performance.

As Chief Risk Officer for Santander US, Ashwani oversaw enterprise risk and compliance across all U.S. entities with approximately $250 billion in assets, spanning Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking. He advised the Board Risk Committee, chaired the Enterprise Risk Management Committee, and led initiatives that redefined Santander’s risk culture and regulatory standing—resolving multiple legacy actions with the OCC, FRB, ECB, and FINRA and achieving “well-managed” status. His leadership also drove transformation of the U.S. risk operating model, supported the launch of Santander’s digital OpenBank, build out of the leveraged lending business, integration of the CRE portfolio in partnership with FDIC, and established Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data governance frameworks, all of which helped strengthened analytics and innovation for the company.

Previously, at J.P. Morgan Chase, Ashwani served as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Firmwide Model Risk Governance & Review, leading a global team of 400 professionals and overseeing model governance across all business lines. He directed major regulatory remediation efforts, achieving the release from the firm’s Trading Consent Order (London Whale event), and drove initiatives that delivered substantial capital efficiencies and improved risk transparency.

Ashwani also served as a Board Member of Banco Santander International from August 2022 to September 2025, contributing to board-level risk and compliance oversight, regulatory engagement and strategic rollout of digital wealth application for lower-tier wealth management customers. He is currently the Venture Advisor with Salamander Advisors, a Seafund Venture India Fund focused on technology startups. He mentors startups, advises investment managers and introduces them to family offices.