Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday that it has appointed TS Shankar as its Southern Asia transaction banking head for bank clients, as it continues to expand its business in the region.
Shankar, who starts immediately, is based in Singapore and reports directly to Jiten Arora, the lender's regional transaction banking head for Southern Asia. He will lead a team of 40 people, and have responsibility for Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as well as India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
"Shankar's role is a newly created one which covers the whole of Southern Asia, from India to Australia. This is an area of strategic importance for us and Shankar's focus will be to grow our business in this region to better serve our clients" said Arora.
Shankar has a total of 19 years experience in the banking industry. He joins from Bank of America, where he was a senior vice-president based in Singapore, responsible for providing global product solutions, including transaction services for financial institutions in Southeast Asia, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.
At Bank of America, Shankar had earlier covered Asia trade flows for Middle East clients, and had Asia coverage responsibilities for the World Bank and the US Department of State. He was also a relationship manager for financial institutions in India and held positions in the non-resident Indian (NRI) business.
Shankar said in a press release yesterday: "I am very excited to join Standard Chartered and be a part of this well-established team. As an international bank with a long history in Asia and a strong presence in key markets, the bank's position has been further enhanced by its recent acquisition of American Express, making it an even more formidable player in the US dollar and euro clearing businesses. I look forward to building on the bank's success and growing its business in the Southern Asia region."
Standard Chartered bought American Express Bank, the international subsidiary of American Express Company for $832 million in March 2008. At the time, the London-headquartered banking group said that the acquisition would "add capability, scale and momentum in the strategically important financial institutions and private banking businesses," in addition to adding 19 more markets to its operations. In particular it would help its financial institutions business by increasing its US dollar clearing operations and enhance its direct euro and yen capability.
"Shankar is an important addition to the sales team aiming to establish a leading position in the financial institution business. His experience in transaction services in Asian markets makes him the perfect candidate to spearhead growth in Southern Asia," said his new boss, Arora.
The appointment follows Standard Chartered's creation of a Taiwan desk in its new Vietnam subsidiary in August to facilitate bilateral trade and wholesale banking flows.
The group earns around 90% of its income and profits from its wholesale and consumer banking businesses in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It has more than 1,600 branches and outlets located in over 70 countries.
