BS People: Venkat Ananthraman

The game of finance

For Venkat Ananthraman, 46, it was just like a homecoming when he rejoined Standard Chartered as the managing director responsible for mergers and amalgamations, leveraged finance and equity corporate finance at the end of September. A metallurgical engineering graduate from Jadhavpur University in 1985, Ananth (as he is affectionately known by his colleagues), started his banking career in 1987 with Bank of America in corporate banking and project financing.

After a decade-long stint at Bank of America, he worked at Bankers Trust in Singapore, which later became a part of Deutsche Bank. The stint at Bankers Trust, unfortunately, coincided with the Asian markets crisis, which limited the scope for structured finance or project finance.

On his return to India in 2003, Ananthraman came back to the Standard Chartered fold and started its corporate finance team, following its acquisition of ANZ Grindlays in India. In 2006, he joined Credit Suisse in India and helped set up its investment banking team, until the global economic crisis hurt everyone’s expansion plans. Today, he is excited to be back at Standard Chartered.

“Through the crisis, one saw how different firms reacted,’’ said Ananthraman. “What StanChart has clearly shown is that it has stood behind its clients and has not backed out of its commitments. In some cases, the bank actually increased its commitments and took big bets,’’ he says.

Most clients see it as a powerhouse and a port of first call, Ananthraman says, describing the bank. Brought up in West Bengal, Delhi, Chennai and the United States, Ananth says he enjoys a game of tennis and golf whenever he can find the time. But his new job at Standard Chartered could test his financial game even more.