Under 100 Words: A Compact Summary
Bandhan Bank prepares to launch credit cards in April-May, appointing Piush Jha to lead. Recent hires include Rajinder Kumar Babbar as Executive Director, and Rajiv Mantri as CFO. They aim to navigate a market led by a few banks, leveraging experienced personnel and strategic partnerships for success (Bandhan Bank’s Credit Card Launch).
- Bandhan Bank is set to enter the credit card market, with plans for rollout anticipated around April-May this year. The bank has appointed Piush Jha, a former executive from the Bank of Baroda (BoB), to lead its credit card unit.
- Jha, formerly associated with BoB Financial Solutions Ltd, is among several senior bankers who have recently joined the Kolkata-based lender (Bandhan Bank’s Credit Card Launch).
- Bandhan Bank, one of the last institutions to receive a universal banking license, will mark its 10th year of operation this year, having commenced business in August 2015.
- Notable appointments include Rajinder Kumar Babbar, who assumes the role of Executive Director & Chief Business Officer, bringing with him 35 years of experience, overseeing all business verticals including digital banking and treasury portfolios. In his previous role, Babbar served as the Group Head of the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Tractor Finance Group at HDFC Bank (Bandhan Bank’s Credit Card Launch).
- Another significant addition is Rajiv Mantri, who takes on the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), responsible for overseeing the bank’s financial operations and efficient resource allocation, with over 25 years of banking and finance experience across India, Singapore, and the UAE, having worked with multinational banks such as Standard Chartered and Citi. Jha’s task will be to navigate a market primarily dominated by a few banks, with HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank issuing 70 percent of credit cards in India, as indicated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, which reported a total of 99.5 million cards as of January 2024, with HDFC Bank leading with a share of around 20 percent (Bandhan Bank’s Credit Card Launch).
- Bandhan’s credit card team will also include former bankers from Citi and YES Bank, among others, and will collaborate with card networks such as Visa, Mastercard, and the homegrown Rupay by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- The bank aims to enable paperless onboarding of credit card customers, with an initial focus on existing customers (Bandhan Bank’s Credit Card Launch). The credit card portfolio will be utilized to bolster the liabilities franchise and cross-sell other products.
- Santosh Nair, with expertise in sales, distribution, profit and loss management, and operations, joins as Head of Consumer Lending and Mortgages, having previously served as CEO of HDFC Sales, now a subsidiary of HDFC Bank.
- Other notable hires include Pinaki Haldar as Chief Information Officer (formerly with Axis Bank), Rajesh Kumar Srivastava to head the control unit (previously with Suryoday Small Finance Bank), and Radhika Raghavan to lead customer experience (formerly with Barclays Shared Services).
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