RBS India chief Brijesh Mehra to head RBL corporate banking

Small sized private lender RBL Bank (formerly known as The Ratnakar Bank Limited) on Monday said the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) India chief Brijesh Mehra will be joining the company as head of corporate banking.

The appointment comes within a month of RBS announcing its withdrawal from customer facing activities in India.

"Brijesh Mehra, the current country executive, India and the corporate and institutional banking head at RBS India, will take charge as head of corporate, institutional and transactional banking at RBL Bank," the bank said in a statement in Mumbai.

At RBL, he will be responsible for developing and managing relationships with large corporates, multinational corporations, public sector undertakings, financial institutions, government departments and local administration, it said.

Mehra, who has over three decades of experience of working for foreign lenders, will be reporting to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vishwavir Ahuja, the Kolhapur-headquartered bank said.

"We are thrilled to have the experience, gravitas and network of relationships of Brijesh to lead this business," Ahuja said.

RBL added that it has effected a string of changes in portfolios of key personnel, including the transfer of Gurumurthy R as head of risk and governance after being replaced by Mehra and elevation of Neeta Mukherjee as the Chief Credit Officer.

In what virtually ended all of its customer-facing activities in India, RBS announced last month it will shut its 10 branches serving the retail segment in the country.