John Hailer is a banking and finance expert who has been in the industry for over 30 years. John plans to continue as an advisor for Natixis North America until 2020 and will take on the responsibility of chairman of three boards. He has led an illustrious career in finance and trade with a strong record of success at multinational banks, including Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust and Citibank. John was actively involved in improving the relations between companies and their customers. He worked with some companies in this regard, including MasterCard, American Express and Citibank.

John Hailer believes that a company’s growth is limited by its ability to create personal customer relationships. In his quest to establish solid and lasting customer relationships, John joined Citibank in New York as director of the customer service by 1990. At the bank, he glanced at significant trends impacting clients, such as changes in demographics, markets for goods and services, technology and lifestyles. John determined that there was a need for more regular interaction between the bank’s clients and its employees to improve customer service and satisfaction levels.

In Natixis, John Hailer used his experience and knowledge of people to create a simple, easy-to-use banking system for more than 65,000 clients in North America. His goal was to give customers more freedom in their financial lives, and he accomplished this by creating digital banking that used the internet to facilitate banking transactions.

John left Citibank to become director of sales for Thomson Financial in New York, where he oversaw a large company sales force. He was also responsible for introducing new financial products and helping Thomson expand into the Middle East. In 1996, John returned to France as executive vice president of Merrill Lynch’s international insurance business. He served in this capacity for a year before moving to Merrill’s investment banking business as global managing director.

John moved to Société Générale and served in various capacities, including executive vice president of corporate strategy and planning, senior advisor of the chief executive officer and vice chairman. In 2001, John completed a management buyout with the help of Morgan Stanley. He became head of his investment bank – Morgan Stanley Investment Bank Europe (MSIB). Merrill Lynch acquired the newly established company. John was appointed president and co-chief operating officer at Merrill Lynch Investment Banking that same year.