Meet the team

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is the CEO of one of the leading accounting firms in Mauritius. With more than 35 years of professional experience, he also acts as an advisor to many large corporates. His specialisation in transaction services has allowed him to lead large transactions in various sectors, both locally and internationally. Mr. Hajee Abdoula has also been involved in high profile insolvency cases and is one of the leading insolvency practitioners in Mauritius. Mr. Hajee Abdoula has been an advisor for the Government of Ghana in determining the framework for the creation of the Ghana International Financial Services Centre.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA, ICAEW). He is a member of the Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants and INSOL International, an international association of restructuring and insolvency professionals. He holds an Auditor’s Licence from the Financial Reporting Council of Mauritius, an Insolvency Practitioner’s Licence of Mauritius, and the ICAEW Insolvency and Practicing Licences.

He has also for many years been involved in the global business sector and has acted as Director on various boards of companies and has also advised clients on structuring and tax matters.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula has been a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Audit Committee of a UK FTSE 100 company at the time of its listing on the UK stock exchange. He is well known for being an innovative and strategic thinker. His extensive professional experience, as well as his broad international exposure, will surely be of value to the Board.

Mr. Hajee Abdoula is an Independent Non-Executive Director and has been appointed as Chairman of SBM Holdings Ltd since 13 March 2020. He is the Chairman of the Board of SBM (NBFC) Holdings Ltd since April 2020.

Mr. Raoul is a seasoned professional, having spent nearly 3 decades in the banking and financial sector.

He started his career as a strategic consultant, restructuring and corporate advisory at PwC in France, East Europe and Africa. He has been exposed to several studies with the World Bank and European Bank Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) on financial institutions in both developed and transitional economies.

Before joining SBM Group, he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of a renowned bank in Mauritius (The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd), as well as a Director on several of its entities across Africa and the Indian Ocean. He has led the transformations of most of its business lines, bringing them to international best standards and aligning them with the new digital, regulatory and compliance international trends. He has also been instrumental in developing a strong knowledge of corporate and investment banking and thus succeeded in growing this franchise on the African continent. He has done his Masters in Economics (specialisation in Finance) and Postgraduate Diploma in International Finance from the University of Paris, France. He is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), conferred by the Institute of Internal Auditors, USA and has also undergone Advanced Management Programme from INSEAD, France.

Mr. Shyam Sundar Barik is a career central banker with over 30 years of experience in the Reserve Bank of India. He served as Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati and RBI Nominee Director on the Board of the Bank of India, and superannuated from the position of Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Banking Regulation, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office. He was a member of the Supervision & Implementation Group (SIG), Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS), and various Internal Working Groups of the Reserve Bank of India. He comes with a wide range of experience and expertise inter alia in the areas of regulation and supervision of commercial and urban cooperative banks. He is presently an independent director on the Board of India SME Asset Reconstruction Company (ISARC). Mr. Barik is a Post-Graduate in Economics and CAIIB, Indian Institute of Banking &Finance (IIBF).

Mr. Umesh Jain has more than 25 years of experience in Banking Technology and over 10 years as a CIO / CTO role in BFSI including heading technology at Yes Bank as well as National Stock Exchange of India Limited. He also held leadership positions at Citibank and Barclays. He has proven expertise in leveraging technology to transform businesses through technology. Core capability in working with business to align technology strategy, and hands-on execution by building technology teams, tools and processes. He possesses an in depth understanding of banking especially operations, products, risk, & finance and is also passionate about leveraging technology to drive change through community engagement.

Ms. Rajabally is a qualified chartered accountant with over 15 years advisory experience across diverse industries in the UK and Mauritius. During her time at PricewaterhouseCoopers (London) and Grant Thornton (Mauritius), she has managed a portfolio of cross border clients demonstrating a track record of service delivery underpinned by a variety of leadership skills, strong relationship management and in-depth technical knowledge. She is also a Registered Insolvency Practitioner. She is currently a Board Member of the Financial Services Commission (Regulator for the Non-Banking Financial Sector in Mauritius) and have previously served for 5 years as Commissioner for the Competition Commission of Mauritius.

Mr. Abizer Diwanji is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over three decades of rich experience in the Financial Services industry. Before joining SBM Group, He has been the Head of Financial Services across KPMG and EY for 20 years. Mr. Diwanji Joined EY as head of financial services and later started the Restructuring business. Prior to EY, he was trained with Arthur Andersen & Co and was one of the initial team members of KPMG in India. During his Professional journey, he was the COO of the Bhendi Bazar Redevelopment project with a focus on tenant management, operations and government approvals. He has attended training courses at Harvard Business School, INSEAD and London Business School on specific programs. He has been part of various committees of RBI and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. On the academic front, he teaches the Investment Banking Course at SP Jain Management Institute, and he is the Course Director for the PGIP course conducted by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Manesar. He is also a visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and SIMSREE.

Pallavi Kanchan started her banking career in 1993 with ANZ Grindlays Bank, transitioning from retail to corporate and investment banking. With over two decades of experience, she has held key positions at Standard Chartered Bank as Head of Commercial Real Estate, and at The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. as Director of Global Banking. She later leveraged her management expertise in the media industry, serving as CEO of The Indian and Eastern Engineers Co. Pvt Ltd, the publisher of Verve and IQ magazines.

She champions workplace diversity and women’s empowerment, and currently works in the social sector to revive Indian folk arts and crafts, generate sustainable livelihoods for artisans, support higher education for the underprivileged, and uplift local communities.

Ms Kanchan is an independent director on various boards: Mahindra Holdings Limited (2016 – 2021) , Axis Finance Limited (2023 - present), Purearth Infrastructure Limited (2023 - present) , Trustee board Canara Robeco Mutual Fund (2024 - present) and Karta Initiative India Foundation (2022 – present).

Pallavi Kanchan graduated in Economics Honours from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and completed her post-graduation in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

Mr. A Dhananjaya has over 35 years of rich experience in BFSI sector, spanning Risk and Portfolio Management, Compliance, Credit, Internal Audit, Operations etc. Mr. Dhananjaya, in his career, has managed various control functions across multinational & domestic financial institution and has extensive experience in managing regulatory relationships for large organisation. Previously, Mr. Dhananjaya had been associated with some of the prominent institutions like Aditya Birla Group, Bank of America, and ABN Amro Bank. Mr. Dhananjaya has completed his B. Tech degree from Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal and PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a veteran banker with nearly three decades of rich experience in the banking and financial services sector. He has an extensive background and an impressive track record in building and expanding global businesses while donning leadership roles across various geographies.

As a career banker, Mr. Vijayakar has immense expertise in the domains of business transformation, risk management, innovation, and managing changing business environment processes, among other areas of operations. He places great focus on fostering collaboration, talent development, and upholding the highest standards of integrity and compliance.

Prior to joining the Bank, as Co-Head & MD, Corporate & Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, India, he demonstrated his ability to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver sustainable results.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a Bachelor of Commerce from Bombay University, CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and an LLB (General) from Bombay University.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a veteran banker with nearly three decades of rich experience in the banking and financial services sector. He has an extensive background and an impressive track record in building and expanding global businesses while donning leadership roles across various geographies.

As a career banker, Mr. Vijayakar has immense expertise in the domains of business transformation, risk management, innovation, and managing changing business environment processes, among other areas of operations. He places great focus on fostering collaboration, talent development, and upholding the highest standards of integrity and compliance.

Prior to joining the Bank, as Co-Head & MD, Corporate & Institutional Banking at Standard Chartered Bank, India, he demonstrated his ability to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver sustainable results.

Mr. Ashish Vijayakar is a Bachelor of Commerce from Bombay University, CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and an LLB (General) from Bombay University.

Mr. Prashant Kadam is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
He has a proven track record of successfully handling multiple verticals covering Treasury Back office, Trade, and Fx Operations and Service, Taxation, Capital Adequacy Computation & Management, Transaction Banking Services, and Governance.

Having rich experience of 31 years in the Financial Services industry, he has been a member of many core committees and has played an important role in pioneering initiatives like Pre Facto Transaction Based Money Laundering alert.

He was earlier affiliated with Axis Bank where he held Leadership positions across various verticals like Treasury Back office/TxB Service, Control & Governance, and TxB Operations. He was a member of the Core Implementation Team for Basel - II capital norms. Also, he has been instrumental in setting up the Centralised Payment Hub.

Mr. Mandar Pitale is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) charter from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), New York. He also holds a Certified Treasury Manager (CTM) charter from ACTM affiliated with the International Group of Treasury Associations, UK. He brings with him 24+ years of diversified experience in the areas of Treasury, Asset Liability Management, Interest rate trading & Financial Risk Management. In his previous assignment with IndusInd Bank, he headed the Treasury ALM function based out of Mumbai.

Ms. Sajitha Pillai has over 19 years of experience in HR and IR in the BFSI sector in Leadership roles. She was earlier associated with UTI Technology Services Ltd and then with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait as Head of HR. Her 19 years' experience includes setting up business verticals, fostering growth and building scale as a business and strategic partner. She has expertise in Strategic HR, Talent Management, Performance Management, Capacity building, Employee engagement for better productivity and managing change.

Ms Pillai holds a Master’s degree in Science and an MBA in HR.

Mr. Pravin Bhosle has over 25 years of expertise in the financial services industry. He's been with Axis Bank for over 17 years and has held various leadership positions. He formerly worked with Indiabulls Housing Finance as Chief Technology Officer and has a proven track record of successfully leading and managing large technology organisations with operational excellence initiatives, innovation and organisational transformation. He draws on his 360-degree experience in technology and business to develop IT strategies that enable businesses to move faster to market and generate more income in the ever-changing digital ecosystem.

Ms. Smita Nair is a professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in the Internal Audit of banks. Prior to joining SBM Bank, Ms. Smita was associated with Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited in a leadership role. Her previous stints include IndusInd Bank Limited and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. She comes with vast experience in the audit domains of Branch Operations, Retail Liabilities, Retail Advances, Treasury and Risk Management functions.

Ms. Smita is a post-graduate in Commerce and a qualified Cost Accountant. She also holds the CAIIB certification from the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, which further enhances her expertise in the banking domain.

Mr. Sabyasachi Ganguly is an experienced banking professional with more than 18 years of extensive experience in areas of Retail Banking, AML and the Compliance domain.

He is an alumnus of Executive Education Program of Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) and is a Management Graduate from the Institute of Rural Management (IRM), Jaipur. He is a ‘Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (CAIIB)’, a ‘Certified Banking Compliance Professional (CBCP)’ from IIBF and ‘Level 3 Certified in Risk in Financial Services’ from Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI), U.K.

Prior to joining the Bank, he has been associated with AU Small Finance Bank as Senior Vice President-Compliance. He has also worked in other reputed banks such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, in various roles.

Satya Prakash Sarangi serves as the Chief Risk Officer at SBM Bank (India) Ltd. In this capacity, he oversees and manages Credit Risk, Market and Liquidity Risk, and Operational Risk management for the bank. Additionally, Satya is responsible for the Enterprise Risk Management framework, ICAAP, and Stress Testing. He proactively identifies and manages emerging risks faced by the Bank.

Satya has been an integral part of SBM Bank since 2008, working in various senior risk management roles in Market and Liquidity Risk and Enterprise Risk before assuming the position of Chief Risk Officer. Prior to joining SBM Bank, Satya gained extensive experience in a large PSU Bank in India, working across different verticals, including Branch Banking, Treasury Mid Office, and FX and Interest Rate Trading. He holds a postgraduate degree from Utkal University and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. Outside of work, Satya enjoys watching football and reading books on history.

Mr. Prakash Jaiswal, a Chartered Accountant with over 23 years of banking experience, brings in comprehensive understanding of Commercial Banking business, both financing and transaction banking.

Prior to joining SBM Bank, Mr. Jaiswal was the Managing Director & Country Head of Business Banking (SME & Startups) at HSBC Bank India. He has held various positions in Corporate Banking at this earlier stint with Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and EXIM Bank.

His skillset covers managing business P&L within defined risk & control appetite, strategizing and execution for business growth & innovation. His expertise also includes client relationship management and team management.

Nikhil Rajadhyaksha, with over 25 years of extensive experience, brings with him a deep understanding of P&L Ownership in Retail Assets, Liabilities, Credit Cards, Third-Party Products, Digital Products, and Bank Partnerships. His expertise spans across Retail Digital and Branch banking.

Prior to joining SBM Bank, Nikhil served as Joint President – Offline Businesses & Third-Party Products at Kotak Securities. He has also held significant roles at Kotak Mahindra Bank, ING Vysya Bank, Citibank, and HCL Infosystems Ltd. within the Retail Banking space.

Nikhil holds an MMS degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.