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MOSTPOWERFUL WOMEN

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13
Prev Rank: 5

Zarin Daruwala, 

CEO, India, Standard Chartered Bank
age: 55
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Despite having the largest foreign bank network and enjoying a loyal customer base, Standard Chartered Bank’s retail arm was incurring consistent losses and was unable to scale its offerings. Daruwala directly oversaw the operational and financial turnaround of the retail business from February 2019 to May 2020, registering large profitability gains. A turnaround plan was put in place to improve costs, sharpen risk management, ramp up growth, and redesign client interactions with clear P&L ownerships by segment, and regular tracking and monitoring. Each executive had clear financial and non-financial targets and deliverables. Result: retail turned profitable in one year, with a positive operating profit swing of nearly ₹360 crore. Revenue grew 15%, while impairments reduced by 5%. The bank’s CASA grew by nearly 15%, and retail term deposits by close to 25%: this collectively represents nearly 90% of the advances book, up from 70% earlier. The share of digital in financial transactions grew from 83% in March 2019 to 92% in March 2020.
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