DBS Bank appoints Rajesh Prabhu as CFO

Singaporean lender DBS Bank on Tuesday said it has hired Rajesh Prabhu as chief financial officer for its operations in Mumbai as the bank looks to expand its Indian footprint.

"In light of the Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) guidelines that have been introduced by the RBI, Prabhu with his detailed understanding of local and international banks in India will be an invaluable addition to the top management at DBS India as the bank looks to expand its Indian footprint," the lender said in a statement.

Mr Prabhu joins the bank from German lender Deutsche Bank, where his job entailed management of onshore financial reporting for the Bank and its subsidiary, it said.

He has also had a stint with IDBI Bank as the financial controller for the state-run bank, it added.

The appointment comes within a month of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) coming out with the guidelines for foreign banks' presence in the country wherein it promised that foreign lenders will get a treatment at par with the national lenders and also allowed them to acquire local private sector banks and list on the exchanges if they adopt WOS model.

DBS, the fourth largest foreign lender in the country with presence in a dozen Indian cities, is keen on going the subsidiary way and have a larger branch network in India.

In the last week of November, DBS Group Holdings chief executive Piyush Gupta had told PTI in Singapore that the bank would consider opening 50 branches in India once restrictions on setting up of branches were removed.

DBS ended fiscal year 2012-13 (FY13) with a profit of Rs 288.5 crore on the back of total income of Rs 2,559.19 crore.