In a high profile move in the financial sector, which is a clear sign of the aggressive approach of domestic financial services firms, S Ranganathan, the CFO of Bank of America Merryl Lynch, is moving to Edelweiss Capital Ltd as Chief Financial Officer. At present, Himanshu Kaji, the Chief Operating Officer of Edelweiss has been holding the additional charge of CFO of the company.
When contacted, Ranganathan confirmed the move to VCCircle. “Yes, I am moving to Edelweiss Capital and will take charge as the CFO there in the next month,” he said.
Rashesh Shah- led Edelweiss has emerged as India’s leading diversified financial services Group. Edelweiss offers a large range of products and services spanning across asset classes and consumer segments. Its businesses are broadly divided into Investment Banking, Brokerage Services, Asset Management and Financing.
The company has Mutual fund and Retail Broking businesses which are strengthened after the recent acquisition of Anagram Capital. Anagram had a larger presence in retail client segment. Edelweiss’ presence in India along with Anagram now covers 360 offices pan India. The company has also started retail financing and as a part of that it launched home financing section.
Ranganathan's hire is a big move from the firm's part as the current top management is mainly comprised of the founding team which includes Rashesh Shah, who is the chairman and CEO, and Venkat Ramaswamy, who is an executive director. Deepak Mittal is the CEO of Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Company Ltd and Himanshu Kaji is the COO.
Ranganathan has over 20 year of experience in this industry. He graduated from Mulund College Of Commerce and completed his Chartered Accountancy. He was working as a senior Vice President with CitiBank during 2003-07 period before joining Bank of America Merryl Lynch as its CFO in 2007.
When contacted, an Edelweiss Spokesperson said he was not aware about the new appointment and will confirm it on Monday.
He said that the company is in an expansion mode and as a part of that, it has recruited many mid-management people at VP levels recently. “A lot of appointments are happening at VP level and it’s a regular process,” he said.
“We have recently launched our home financing section and we have got R1 clearance from IRDA for our Life Insurance JV with Tokio Marine, one of the world’s largest Insurance groups headquartered in Japan,” he said.
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture between the Edelweiss Capital Limited and Tokio Marine has received the initial R1 approval from the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA). This is the first step of regulatory clearances required for carrying on the business as Life Insurance company in India.
