MUMBAI: UK Financial services group Barclays has roped in Samir Bhatia, head of corporate and SME banking in HDFC Bank, as managing director of its retail and commercial banking in India.
Bhatia has been taken on board as part of the bank's plans to widen its activities in India to include corporate, small and medium enterprise and retail business in India.
Sources said Bhatia has been hired at a top-notch salary, reflecting the British group's seriousness at building a retail and SME portflolio.
Currently, only ABN Amro, Citi, HSBC and StanChart occupy this space in India, while Singapore-based DBS has recently entered the SME and private banking space.
Deutsche Bank has also entered the high-end retail banking segment recently. Other foreign banks have been speaking about getting into retail banking in India. Barclays has also moved in Charles Gill to head its card operations.
Mr Bhatia has been in HDFC Bank from its inception when he joined the bank from Citi. He is expected to join Barclays in a couple of months.
Internationally, Barclays has different verticals including international retail and commercial banking (IRCB), Barclaycard, Barclays Capital, Barclays Private Bank and Barclays Global Investors. Mr Bhatia will head the new vertical under IRCB in India.
This will be IRCB's first venture in Asia. It has operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The new vertical will start off high-end corporate banking, SME, trade finace, cash managment, supply chain managment asset-based finance like leasing. Later, it will also get into retail. Barclays has been planning a wholly-owned NBFC for SMEs. Sources said that it is also eyeing an NBFC acquisition. Barclays will initially start with its one branch in Mumbai.
It is looking at more branches in the country. Barclays wants to be a key player when the market opens up.
Barclays may invest $70m in '06 and '07 for its corporate banking venture in India. It is also bullish on its card business in India.
Barclaycard was in talks with LIC and Corporation Bank for launching a credit card in India. It may look at tying up with other players too. Barclays is present in the country through Barclays Capital, its invesvgtment banking division.
In India, it is a major player in underwriting and arranging domestic and offshore loan and bond markets.
The bank also provides risk managment solutions like interest and currency derivatives. The group had invested $150m this year taking its total commitment in India to $300m. Barclays is looking at increasing its share of international business from the current 40-50% in three years.
