Ashwini Kumar Tewari Appointed as the New Managing Director and CEO of SBI Card

SBI Card, the country`s second largest credit card issuer announced that Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari has taken over as the company`s new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. The baton passes from Mr. Hardayal Prasad who retired on July 31, 2020, following a successful tenure during which the company achieved many significant accolades.  

Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari is a career banker with over 29 years’ experience with State Bank of India, including domestic and foreign postings. Prior to taking charge at SBI Card, since April 2017 Mr. Tewari held the position of Country Head of US Operations at SBI, based in New York. He also served as Vice Chairman of the State Bank of India (California) Board of Directors. 

Commenting on the development, Mr. Dinesh Khara, Managing Director, GB &S, State Bank of India said, “We are pleased to welcome Mr. Ashwini Kumar Tewari as the MD & CEO of SBI Card. He has demonstrated authentic, adept leadership in diverse positions both in India and abroad, during a successful career. We believe that he has the strategic vision and skill sets to lead the rapidly growing credit card business. We are confident that he will be able to further strengthen SBI Card’s market share and propel the business to new milestones.” 

Mr Ashwini Tewari, MD & CEO, SBI Card said, “We are at the cusp of an interesting time – there is a digital payments revolution sweeping India today and the country is firmly on the path to becoming a digital economy. SBI Card has achieved stellar success so far; and with the right focus on innovation, technology and customer service, the company remains poised to capitalise in a big way on the significantly underpenetrated Indian credit card market.  I look forward to steering SBI Card’s efforts to enhance customer experience at every touch point, fuelling growth and strengthening our position as industry leaders.” 

He added, “My immediate goal is to ensure sustained business performance as seen in the last two quarters, despite the challenging environment. In the long run, my endeavour would be to enable SBI Card to scale new heights along with the robust management team that has been driving the growth of this exceptional company.” 

Mr Tewari started his banking career with SBI in 1991 as a probationary officer. He has expertise in driving business, administration, and HR. He has experience in diverse leadership roles, extending across significant business functions like Credit, International and Retail Banking including Business Process Re-engineering. He was involved in the bank technology upgrades in Core Banking and Internet Banking platforms and acquisition of a new Trade Platform. 

In his previous assignments, he served as Regional Head and GM, East Asia Hong Kong and oversaw operations of SBI in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, and the neighbouring region. He also served as Deputy General Manager, (Operations & Information Systems), IBG, Mumbai and Head of SBI’s Cash Management Services. Mr. Tewari has served on the boards of International Institute of Bankers, New York and University of Washington Global Bankers Program. 

Mr. Tewari holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Electrical). He is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He has a CFPCM certificate and is ACAMS certified. 

About SBI Card  : SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited (formerly known as SBI Cards and Payment Services Private Limited) (“SBI Card”) is a non-banking financial company that offer extensive credit card portfolio to individual cardholders and corporate clients which includes lifestyle, rewards, travel & fuel and banking partnerships cards along with corporate cards covering all major cardholders’ segments in terms of income profile and lifestyle. It has diversified customer acquisition network that enables to engage prospective customers across multiple channels. SBI Card is a technology driven company. 

The Company is listed on National Stock Exchange (“NSE”) and The Bombay Stock Exchange (“BSE”). 

Note: The brand name of the company is ‘SBI Card’ and it is registered in the name of ‘SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited’. The company is trading under the entity name ‘SBICARD’ on stock exchanges. Visit www.sbicard.com for more details. 

US credit card cos losses could top $70 billion in 2009

Credit card companies have little to celebrate as many analysts brace for 2009 to be one of the worst years on record for consumer credit.

Losses for the industry could top $70 billion, but it is hard to predict how bad the pain will be.

US consumers have never before been so deeply in debt. There was nearly $1 trillion of credit and charge card debt outstanding as of October, up more than 25 per cent since 2003, according to the US Federal Reserve. That is in addition to $10.54 trillion in mortgage debt.

Unemployment, already at 15-year highs, is expected to rise to its highest levels since the early 1980s, when credit cards were not nearly as widespread.

In short, there's more debt than ever and fewer people are able to pay it.

"In many ways, we're in uncharted territory," said John Williams, an analyst at Macquarie Research.

Major credit losses are big trouble for Citigroup Inc, Bank of America, and other card issuers such as American Express Co and Discover Financial Services, which have seen their shares lose up to 80 per cent of their value in 2008.

The United States is not standing idly by. Citigroup received $45 billion of taxpayers' money in October and November. Bank of America has received $25 billion. American Express, which became a bank holding company, got approval last week to receive $3.4 billion from the taxpayer-funded Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Lenders, seeing potential big losses, are trying to protect themselves by tightening credit availability, which leaves consumers with fewer options.

This year's holiday shopping season was the worst since at least 1970, according to a report from the International Council of Shopping Centers.

"It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Williams said.

NOWHERE TO HIDE

No credit card company is safe. According to Citigroup analysts, more than one-fourth of the credit card portfolios of Citibank, Bank of America Corp, Capital One Corp, and Discover are subprime, which could lead to further losses.

Meanwhile, American Express is heavily exposed to troubled markets with high default rates such as Florida and California, and JP Morgan Chase & Co has to digest the portfolio of failed savings and loans company Washington Mutual.

Together, these six companies hold around 90 per cent of the total US outstanding credit card debt.

Citigroup and American Express have said they are tightening lending to mitigate their losses. JP Morgan and Bank of America declined to comment, while Capital One did not return calls seeking comment.

Credit card companies have reported increased losses. Discover, the No 4 US credit card network, posted worse-than-expected results in its fourth fiscal quarter, the first sign of the harsh deterioration of the industry, when the economic downturn picked up steam in October and November.

Discover almost doubled the money it set aside to cover credit losses. Analysts said its competitors would likely do the same in coming Credit Cards quarters, leading to lower earnings.

"Things have changed pretty rapidly in the last two months. I'm hopeful that we will see the worst in 2009, but I don't know yet," David Nelms, chief executive of Discover, told reporters in a recent interview.

Many analysts and credit card executives look at 2009 and remember the beginning of the mortgage crisis in early 2007, when lenders consistently underestimated what was coming up.

Said Chris Brendler, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, "The risk is that things get much worse than expected."

Source: Agencies