Centurion revamping team, Citibanker to be COO

Centurion Bank is revamping its management team and Anil Jaggia, a Citibank official based in Chicago, will assume charge as the chief operating officer (COO) at Centurion Bank. The bank has also short-listed a new human resources development chief and a new head for retail banking.

It had recently taken on Tarini Vaidya to lead treasury operations. She was earlier with the HSBC group. Revamping the management team follows the bank's decision to focus more on the retail sector with plans to launch additional products including home loans, enhance its presence in the auto loan market and introduce credit cards.

"As we look at introducing new products to make our bottomline more retail-oriented, there is a need for people who truely understand the business," said Centurion Bank, managing director (MD), Shailendra Bhandari.

Speaking to Business Standard, Bhandari said that after having identified the problems plaguing the bank, and having gone in for capital restructuring, the next priority is to restructure the management team. "The idea is to make up for lost time and increase our market share in the retail segment, which is growing at the rate of 35 per cent," he added.

Despite the intense competition in the home finance market, Bhandari sees room for more players.

"Home loan rates after falling have now stabilised. We will venture into the business only if it meets our return on equity," he stated. As the capital adequacy ratio for home loans is at just 50 per cent and this retail product also qualifies for priority sector lending, "it works out to be an inherent advantage for us to look at the product," pointed out Bhandari.

At the same time, Centurion Bank's strategy is to ensure that it is among the top four in the markets where it operates. "We do not intend to rank 10th or 11th if we choose to venture into home loans. If that be the case, we will choose to be a regional player," said Bhandari.

In the two-wheeler loan segment, Centurion Bank ranks number two. In the auto loan segment, Centurion Bank ranks third though its presence is restricted to Bangalore.