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Citi names Behzad Merchant to steer business execution in India
MUMBAI: Citi is tightening its execution engine in India. The bank has appointed Behzad Merchant as business execution lead for India, with additional oversight for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as it sharpens focus on governance, risk and regulatory delivery in a complex market.
Merchant will report to Varittha Prichapanich, business execution lead for Asia South, with a matrix line to K Balasubramanian, chief executive of Citi India and banking head for the Indian subcontinent. His brief spans strategic and business-critical initiatives, regulatory programmes, and efforts to streamline governance while reinforcing the bank’s risk and controls framework.
Balasubramanian says the appointment underlines Citi’s push for disciplined risk management and strong execution across its India franchise. Merchant’s familiarity with Citi and leadership experience, he adds, should help balance growth ambitions with tight operational controls.
Prichapanich describes Merchant as combining operational depth, technology expertise and a risk mindset suited to a fast-changing environment. His regional understanding and execution focus are expected to bolster governance and delivery across the subcontinent.
Merchant brings more than 25 years of experience across banking, operations, technology and controls. He moves into the role from Citi’s Asia South technology controls team, where he worked on key markets including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Before that, he spent two and a half years at JPMorgan as business risk and controls lead for the payments business in Asia, overseeing regional frameworks and serving as India site lead for global payments risk and controls.
His history with Citi runs deep. Merchant previously spent nearly two decades at the bank in senior roles spanning operations, technology and control functions. A commerce graduate and an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, he blends institutional memory with technical grounding.
For Citi, the message is clear. In an era of tighter rules and thinner margins, execution is strategy. And in India’s high-stakes banking market, the winners will be those who control the risks as tightly as they chase the returns.
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YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
