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Bandhan Bank to start its credit card operation in Apr-May; Piush Jha to lead the unit

Submitted by admin on March 23rd, 2024

Bandhan Bank is going to be the latest addition to the league of the credit card issuer. The Kolkata-based lending stalwart is likely to start their new business activity in April-May this year.

Bandhan Bank has hired Piush Jha, the former executive of Bank of Baroda to head their credit card unit.

Jha has recently retired from the BoB Financial Solutions Ltd, and is one of many senior bankers who became a part of the private lending institute in the last few months. Jha will have to oversee Bandhan Bank’s credit card operation.

Bandhan Bank is one of the last lenders to have received universal banking licence. The bank will now complete 10 years of its business next year. They started their journey in August 2015.

Rajider Kumar Babbar, one of the key appointments, joined as the executive director and chief business officer.

Babbar with his 35 years of experience will manage digital banking and treasury portfolios among other business verticals. He served as the group head in his last role to oversee the transportation and tractor finance group at HDFC Bank.

Rajiv Mantri, another important appointment, was hired for the post of chief financial officer. He will oversee the bank’s resource allocation and financial operations.

Mantri joined Bandhan Bank with his 25 years of experience in finance and banking. He was associated with multinational banks like Citi and Standard Chartered and worked in India, UAE and Singapore.

Santosh Nair is another key appointment. He will be heading consumer lending and mortgages. Nair has profound knowledge and experience in profit and loss management, sales and distribution and operations.

He also served as the CEO of HDFC Sales, a wing of the former HDFC Ltd, and now a subsidiary of HDFC Bank after their merging with HDFC.

Bandhan has also appointed former AXIS Bank banker Pinaki Halder as the chief information officer.

Rajesh Kumar Srivastava will join Bandhan as the head of the control unit. He worked with Suryoday Small Finance Bank. Radhika Raghavan, who was with Barclays Shared Services, will head customer experience.

The credit card market is heavily dominated by four key players SBI Card, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank who issue 70 percent of credit cards in India.

As of January 2024, the total number of cards was 99.5 million as per RBI data. HDFC, with its 20 pecent share, leads the credit card market.

Bandhan Bank’s credit card team will also welcome former bankers from YES Bank, Citi and other well-known lending institutions on their board in near future.

The bank is to tie up with card networks like Mastercard, Visa and homegrown Rupay of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

“We will have paperless on-boarding of credit card customers,” said a source, adding the initial focus will be its existing customers.

The bank will leverage credit card portfolio to make their liabilities franchise stronger, apart from cross-selling other products.

All the appointments at the senior posts are meant to strengthen Bandhan Bank’s core activities and expand their business operations.

Recent Important Appointments at Bandhan Bank