- The Group plans to raise capital to the tune of Rs. 500 crores
- Expansion in India and Overseas on the retail financial services front
The Centrum Group today announced the appointment of Mr. Rajnish Bahl as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer - Group Retail Financial Services.
FCH CentrumDirect Ltd (Forex Money Changing), FCH Wealth Managers Ltd (Retail Broking and Distribution) & Centrum Financial Services Ltd (NBFC Lending Activities) are all under the arena of Centrum’s Group Retail Financial Services.
Mr. Chandir Gidwani, founder of the Centrum Group and Chairman of Centrum Capital Limited said, “India has truly emerged as the most exciting market for financial services and presents possibly the best potential for wealth creation, be it for businesses, families or individuals. Rajnish will be responsible for harnessing the tremendous opportunity for the Group in the Retail Financial Services space. He will drive the strategic direction and growth aspirations for the Group in all aspects of Retail services, identify opportunities for participation and lead the Group’s operations in this business.”
The Group has now drawn up an ambitious medium term plan to build a strong retail franchise and thus transform itself into a fully-integrated provider of financial services both in the local and offshore markets. The Group’s retail financial services initiative envisages enhancing its distribution presence from about 45 to over 100 cities in the next 3 years.
As the first major step in this direction, the Group has engaged a global management consulting major to help map the opportunities in the Financial Services space and draw up a comprehensive blue print for execution of the strategy based on the strengths of the group. In order to support investments into this foray, the Group has plans to raise capital to the tune of Rs. 500 crores. The Group is committed to achieving its objectives on the strength of its core expertise, solid team of professionals and through a mix of acquisitions, strategic alliances and tie-ups in select areas with domestic and international partners.
The Group today has interests across Investment Banking and Corporate Advisory, Foreign Exchange and Travel, Wealth Management and Private Equity. With over 150 branches in India and overseas including a presence in the Middle East, the Far East, the UK and the US and talent strength of over 1,500 people, Centrum has emerged as a fast growing strong player in the country in its core areas of expertise.
Mr. Gidwani added, “Rajnish brings to the Group an excellent combination of rich experience and valuable insights across the financial services spectrum gathered over two decades of successful stints with very reputed and large global banks. He has been instrumental in creating and building a diverse array of businesses in his previous roles and has also successfully steered them through various stages of the business life-cycle. I am confident that under Rajnish’s leadership we will build a robust and best in class Retail Financial Services business for Centrum.”
Mr. Bahl was until recently the Regional Head of Distribution for HSBC in their Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) operations. He was responsible for driving and implementing the sales and distribution strategies/activities for the Personal Financial Services business across 18 countries in the MENA region. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director and Head Personal Financial Services for HSBC in India where he led their retail banking business.
Mr. Bahl is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has been a career banker having served stints with Citibank, ANZ Grindlays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank before HSBC. His career covers a range of domestic and international assignments in the areas of project financing, credit and risk management, distribution strategy, sales management, service delivery, customer propositions and segments, alternate channel strategy, banking operations and control, wealth management, cards and consumer lending.
About Centrum:
Centrum Capital Ltd (CCL) - the flagship company of the Centrum Group is a category one Merchant Banker registered with SEBI and listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. [BSE] CCL is among the leading merchant bankers in the Country. The activities of CCL encompasses the entire gamut of investing banking activities such as Lead Managing of Public Issues, Private Placements, Loan syndications, Corporate Debt Restructuring, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Advisory Services etc. besides dealing in Primary and Secondary markets on securities.
