BNP Paribas Securities Services today announced that it has appointed Viraj Kulkarni as head of Securities Services in India. Mr Kulkarni will drive the custodian’s business activities in the booming Indian market, which include custody and clearing, transfer agency and domestic fund services for buy- and sell-side institutions.

Mr Kulkarni has more than two decades’ experience in financial services including leadership, senior business development and operational positions at blue-chip organisations including Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase. He has also served as head of Citibank Securities Services in India and Switzerland. Most recently Mr Kulkarni was a managing partner at Pivot, a securities services-focused management consultancy that he founded in 2009.

Mr Kulkarni will also be responsible for animating BNP Paribas Securities Services’ strategy in India as part of the bank’s wider Asia Pacific growth plan, a key region for the custodian where it has experienced double-digit growth in the past three years. With 1,500 employees based in Asia Pacific, the region now accounts for almost twenty per cent of the firm’s workforce.

Reporting to Lawrence Au, head of BNP Paribas Securities Services Asia Pacific and Jacques Michel, chief executive and country manager BNP Paribas India, Mr Kulkarni will also contribute to the custodian’s overall strategic direction as a member of its regional Asia Pacific executive committee.

Commenting on Mr Kulkarni’s appointment, Mr Au said, “We are pleased to announce Viraj’s appointment and welcome him to BNP Paribas Securities Services.

“Since launching in India in 2009, we have experienced strong growth and we now provide custody of four per cent 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 capitalise on the opportunities in India,” continued Mr Au, who is a member of the custody bank’s executive committee.

Mr Kulkarni will build on the solid foundation laid by the incumbent Pierre-Alexandre Thome, who moves into a new role with the bank as head of clearing and custody and corporate trust operations in India.

BNP Paribas is one of the longest-standing foreign banks in India with a presence stretching back more than 150 years. The announcement follows a busy period of developments for the bank’s custody business in India which in April 2011 saw it launch local clearing and custody services.

Based in London, Nigel Drury will play a key role in driving Coutts’ risk management agenda across all geographies of the RBS Wealth Division, through continuous liaison with the business’s regulators. 

BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNP Paribas) has announced the appointment of Annalisa Winge Bicknell to Regional head of sales and relationship management for Institutional Clients, reinforcing its ambition to grow in the asset manager and asset owner segment of the market. 

b-next, a specialist provider of Market Abuse Surveillance, Insider Dealing and Compliance software solutions, is expanding its sales division to build further successful sales channels that will contribute to future growth. Stefan Hoppe joins as Sales Manager.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) today announced the appointment of former three-term U.S. Senator Judd A. Gregg as Chief Executive Officer of the Association and the appointment of former U.S. Representative and SIFMA Acting President & CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. as President of the Association.

NYSE Technologies, the commercial technology division of NYSE Euronext, has announced the appointment of Varghese Thomas as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Infrastructure Solutions.  

Apex Fund Services (“Apex”), one of the world’s largest independent fund administration companies, announces the appointment of David Brown as the new Managing Director of Apex’s Bermuda office.