Ajay Banga is the new MasterCard CEO

New York, Apr 12 (PTI) Prominent India-origin banker Ajay
Banga, a Citigroup veteran, has been appointed as the chief
executive officer of electronic payment services provider
MasterCard.
The 50-year-old Banga, currently the company's president
and chief operating officer, would take over as the CEO from
July 1, MasterCard said in a statement Monday.
"I am excited to lead MasterCard at a time when the
global opportunity for electronic payments has never been
stronger," Banga, said.
Banga, a Delhi University product, is the brother of
high profile Manvinder Singh Banga of Uniliver. Last month, M
S Banga, President, Global Foods, Home & Personal Care,
Uniliver, had announced that he would leave the company by the
end of May.
Ajay Banga graduated in Economics from Delhi University
and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, based
in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
He succeeds Robert W Selander, who has been heading the
company since March 1997. With this appointment, Banga would
be joining the likes of Citigroup's Vikram Pandit and
PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi in heading a global corporate.
Banga will also become a board member with immediate
effect, the company said.
MasterCard, the global payment solution leader,
processes over 22 billion transactions in a year. It had a
profit of USD 1.5 billion on revenues of USD 5.1 billion for
2009.
Before joining MasterCard on August 31, 2009, Banga had
spent 13 long years with banking major Citigroup. He was Citi
Asia-Pacific CEO, responsible for all of the company's
business lines in the region including institutional banking,
wealth management and credit cards.
He was with Citi for 13 years and held various roles in
the US, Europe and Middle East, among others.
Banga started his career with Nestle in 1981 and later
joined Pepsico. He also serves on the board of Kraft Foods.
"We are fortunate to announce the transition to a leader
with Ajay's expertise and experience. His industry knowledge,
as well as his deep background in financial services
encompassing many geographies, makes him the ideal CEO to
successfully drive MasterCard's future growth," MasterCard
Board of Directors' Chairman Richard Haythornthwaite said.
Following the transition, Selander would serve as the
MasterCard's executive vice chairman and continue to serve as
a board member till his retirement on December 31, 2010.
"Since joining MasterCard in late August 2009, Ajay has
demonstrated extraordinary leadership and insight, and I know
he is the ideal candidate to lead MasterCard moving forward,”
Selander said. PTI