BNP Paribas Securities Services has named Viraj Kulkarni as head of India. Kulkarni will drive the custodians business activities in the booming Indian market, which include custody and clearing, transfer agency and domestic fund services for buy- and sell-side institutions.
Kulkarni replaces Pierre-Alexandre Thome, who moves into a new role with the bank as head of clearing and custody and corporate trust operations in India.
Kulkarni was most recently managing partner at Pivot, a securities services-focused management consultancy that he founded in 2009. Before that he held leadership, senior business development and operational positions at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase. He has also served as head of Citibank Securities Services in India and Switzerland.
Kulkarni will also be responsible for animating BNP Paribas Securities Services strategy in India as part of the banks wider Asia Pacific growth plan, a key region for the custodian where it has experienced double-digit growth since launching there in 2009.
Reporting to Lawrence Au, head of BNP Paribas Securities Services Asia Pacific and Jacques Michel, chief executive and country manager BNP Paribas India, Kulkarni will also be a member of BNP Paribas regional Asia Pacific executive committee.
Commenting on Kulkarnis appointment, Au said: Since launching in India in 2009, we have experienced strong growth and we now provide custody of 4% of all assets held in India on behalf of foreign institutional investors.
With his breadth of global experience and deep knowledge of the Indian securities market, Viraj is ideally placed to take us to the next level and capitalize on the opportunities in India.
(JDC)