HSBC has hired Citi's former head of consumer banking in Russia to lead its wealth unit in India.
Sandeep Batra joins HSBC as its head of wealth and personal banking (WPB) for India, according to a statement.
Batra is a 20-year banking veteran and was most recently working at Citi where he spent more than 15 years, last as its head of consumer banking in Russia. Previously, he also spent seven years at Standard Chartered.
India Expansion
India has been named a strategic growth market for HSBC which it said it is accelerating its investments across the WPB business in the country.
In addition to continued enhancements of its offering, the bank acquired Mumbai-based asset manager L&T Investment Management earlier this year and it has an existing insurance joint venture with Bengalaru-based Canara Bank. HSBC also announced the relaunch of its onshore private banking business in India last month after exiting in 2015.
In the first half of 2022, HSBC’s WPB unit in India registered a pre-tax profit of $33 million, up from an $11 million loss a year ago, which accounts for 1.9 percent of the total in Asia.
Citi’s Russia Exit
Batra joins from Citi's consumer banking business in Russia – one of the 13 markets it said it would exit from as part of a global rejig announced last year. In May this year, the bank reportedly said that it was still in active dialogue to sell the business, alongside its commercial banking unit.
«We’ve stopped soliciting new business, new clients. We’re clearly shrinking down our exposures, our business,» said Citi chief executive Jane Fraser in a «Bloomberg» interview earlier this year. «But you're kind of the captain who’s the last one off the ship.»
