HDFC, CBoP merger to be reunion of former Citibankers

MUMBAI: The merger of Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP) with HDFC Bank will see many former Citibankers becoming a part of the combined family.
    
From the top, HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri was part of Citibank for almost two decades before he returned to India and set up the HDFC Bank in Mumbai in 1994. He was the CEO of Citibank, Malaysia from 1992 to 1994. Puri will be heading the merged entity.
   
The current Chairman of CBoP, the seasoned venture capitalist Rana Talwar too began his career with the Mumbai branch of Citibank. He rose to the post of head of CitiBank's consumer business in the Asia-Pacific and Middle-East and was senior to Puri.

The HDFC Bank board is looking forward to having Talwar as the non-executive director on the board of the merged entity.
    
Also, HDFC Bank Executive Director Paresh Sukhtankar had began his career with Citibank in 1985 and worked in diverse areas like corporate banking, risk management, financial control and credit administration.
   
For CBoP CEO & Managing Director Shailendra Bhandari, it is his second innings at HDFC Bank, where he had earlier served as Treasurer and Executive Director. Bhandari, too, had worked with the Citibank for 13 years.
   
In the merged entity, he will join at Executive Director HDFC Bank.
   
His colleague Anil Jaggia, CBoP Chief Operating Officer, had also been under the Citibank umbrella for almost two decades.