REL announces senior level appointments on its Board

Appoints Stuart Pearce and Kathryn Matthews as Independent Directors

Religare Enterprises Limited (REL), a global financial services group, today announced senior level appointments to its Board. Mr. Stuart D Pearce and Ms. Kathryn Matthews were inducted in the capacity as Independent Directors with effect from July 6, 2010. This comes shortly on the heels of both promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh decided to step off the Board of Directors of REL which resulted in the appointment of Mr. Sunil Godhwani, the erstwhile CEO as the new Chairman and Managing Director. This move also saw the appointment of Mr. Shachindra Nath, Group CEO and Mr. Anil Saxena, Group CFO to the Board of REL.

Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Sunil Godhwani, Chairman and Managing Director said; “We welcome Stuart and Kathryn to the Religare family and are excited with the rich and relevant wealth of global experience they both bring to the table having worked in global leadership roles in  mature markets like the US and Europe. Their addition to the Board will be invaluable and highly significant in light of our plans to continue to build a global business of scale.”

Profile of newly inducted Directors:

Stuart comes on board of the recently restructured REL Board of Directors with over thirty five years of experience in the financial services domain. Prior to joining the Board of Religare, Stuart served as the Chief Executive Officer and Director General of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. While at the helm of the Qatar Financial Centre for over five years, Stuart has led the centre’s transformation into one of world class repute by leading its expansion from scratch with a “startup” group of 4 to 140 personnel in four years.

Stuart commenced his career in the financial services space in 1975 holding various positions in Treasury and Commercial Banking. He joined HSBC in 1990 as a Group Representative in Sweden and from there continued his rise up the management chain. In over fifteen successful years at HSBC, Stuart held several management positions across important markets such as Switzerland, Japan and the UK. Stuart was finally selected as the Chief Executive Officer, Investment Management, HSBC UK where he completed a five year stint.

A seasoned and well-respected international banker, Stuart brings with him rich experience and a highly successful track record in setting up new and restructuring existing businesses in ten different countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Stuart brings to Religare immeasurable experience in International banking and financial services covering Asset Management, Corporate Banking, Private Banking and CEO roles.

Kathryn is also a well respected veteran of the industry and comes to Religare with over three decades of experience. She entered the world of financial services with Baring Asset Management and has developed her forte in the knowledge of the Asset Management Space.  This experience of Kathryn is highly valued as it is in sync with the global plans and aspirations of Religare. In her vast and storied tenure, Kathryn has held leadership positions in leading asset management firms globally such as Axa Investment Managers and William M. Mercer. In 2003, Kathryn joined Fidelity as Head of Global Equities and Portfolio Strategies Group and subsequently moved to Asia where she has been instrumental in building the business from a respectable USD 14 billion to a mammoth USD 70 billion.

About Religare Enterprises Limited (Religare) –http://www.religare.in
Religare is a global financial services group with a presence across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. In India, Religare’s largest market, the group offers a wide array of products and services ranging from insurance, asset management, broking and lending solutions to investment banking and wealth management. The group has also pioneered the concept of investments in alternative asset classes such as arts and films. With over 10,000 employees across multiple geographies, Religare serves over a million clients, including corporates and institutions, high net worth families and individuals, and retail investors.