MUMBAI: Royal Bank of Scotland, the British bank hobbled in India, is hiring ex-CitibankerSanjeev Vohra from the Philippines to run its redefined India business that will be limited to international banking and local business. Sanjeev Vohra, who had led Citi Phillipines from 2005, recently quit as Country Officer Philippines to move back to India. He also had a stint with Citi India in the corporate banking division.
"He is no stranger to the organisation. Vohra was employed with the erstwhile ABN Amro Bank, where he headed the corporate industries business for the Asia Pacific region," said a senior bank official familiar with the development. "The appointment process is under way and the bank awaits regulatory approval," said the official. However, an email query to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) remained unanswered.
Vohra will succeed Meera Sanyal who quit as country head of RBS in April this year to devote time to social, economic and political issues. Vohra is a management graduate from the faculty of management studies - University of Delhi, and IIT, and has expertise in corporate, investment and retail banking, besides mergers and building strategy.
Known for his execution skills among his colleagues, he has a tough job at hand as the British bank restructures its business in India. "It's going to be a challenging assignment as RBS is struggling to sell its consumer banking loans for the past three years," said a senior bank officer aware of the development.
"He will also have to take some tough decisions on head count reduction on account of the restructuring," he added. RBS got the Indian assets of ABN as part of a three-way split of the Dutch bank after it was acquired along with Santander of Spain and Fortis of Belgium.
