Barclays Names Pramod Kumar As New India CEO, Appoints Suneeta Shetty COO In Top-Level Rejig

Among Barclays’ global units, India ranked fourth by revenue last year, trailing only the UK, US, and Ireland

Barclay's turnover in India has more than tripled in almost 10 years, outshining the performance of other key markets in Asia like Singapore or Hong Kong. ( Image Source :Getty )

Barclays Plc named 12-year veteran Pramod Kumar as its chief executive officer (CEO), news agency Bloomberg reported. Kumar will be replacing Ram Gopal who is leaving after leading the bank in the country for nearly six years, people privy to the development told the news agency. The British bank also hired Suneeta Shetty from HSBC Holdings Plc as its India chief operating officer (COO), the sources said.

These changes are happening in one of the most important overseas markets for Barclays. Among Barclays’ global units, India ranked fourth by revenue last year, trailing only the UK, US, and Ireland. The lender’s turnover in India has more than tripled in almost 10 years, outshining the performance of other key markets in Asia such as Singapore or Hong Kong. The India business, which also includes corporate and private banking, was more than twice the size of Singapore’s and Japan’s last year.

A Mumbai-based spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment, when asked by Bloomberg News about the management moves. HSBC declined to comment about Shetty’s move.

Kumar joined Barclays almost 12 years ago and is currently its head of banking under its investment bank division in the country, according to his LinkedIn page.

Shetty was at HSBC for more than 17 years, with her role as group head of transaction monitoring operations and centre director at GSC Krakow in Poland being her most recent position until July this year, according to her LinkedIn page.

Siddharth Bachhawat, in addition to his current role as head of trading, India, will also take on the role of head of markets, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

Barclays’s Asia Pacific head Jaideep Khanna is based in the country, helping to maintain close ties with India’s growing ranks of corporate giants and wealthy. The bank’s revamped India team will have to grapple with intensifying competition from rivals such as HSBC and HDFC Bank Ltd., which are beefing up their local operations, as well as the turmoil surrounding a key client, the Adani group.

The management changes are also the latest in a series of moves made by the bank after several senior executives recently left. Taranjit Jaswal, India head of corporate banking, has left the firm after eight years to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions, Bloomberg News reported, citing a internal memo earlier this month. Sandeep Das, its head of private clients in the country, has also departed to pursue another opportunity, according to a separate memo. Earlier, Ashish Jhaveri, head of mergers and acquisitions for India, exited the bank to join Jefferies Financial Group Inc., people familiar with the matter had said.