Our Team - About Us - AfrAsia Bank Limited


About Us

Profile
Strategic Partners
Board of Directors
Team
CEO
Founder Executives
Management
Relationship Team
Key Values
Annual Report 2009
In the Media

Our Team




AfrAsia Bank believes in long term and durable relationships. Our team is made up of some of the most experienced, able and highly esteemed professionals - a real A-Team at your dedicated service.

Chief Executive Officer

James Benoit

James is a Chartered Financial Analyst with 18 years experience in banking. He has been working with HSBC in China, Philippines, Hong Kong, Middle East, Canada and Mauritius from 1999 to 2001 when he was Deputy CEO and Head of Retail Banking. James has grown and lead consumer banking and corporate banking businesses in these regions. He has in-depth functional experience in marketing, credit cards, product development, trade finance and credit risk.

Founder Executives

Ben Padayachy - General Manager, Head of Banking, Treasury and Markets

Ben has 14 years experience in banking, having successively worked with BNP Paribas (BNPI), Barclays Bank and Standard Bank. He has held management roles at both retail and corporate level throughout his career and has originated investment banking transactions from debt capital markets to structured trade finance. He holds a Masters degree in Monetary Economics from University of Paris Dauphine and a post-graduate degree in Banking and Finance.

Rouben Chocalingum - Head of Domestic Banking Relationships and Sales

Rouben is a 15 years experienced banker. He started his career in 1992 with State Bank of Mauritius and has acquired extensive experience in credit and corporate banking, and was part of the executive management prior to leaving SBM. He joined Standard Bank (Mauritius) in 2006 as Senior Relationship Manager before moving to AfrAsia Bank. He holds a diploma in business administration from University of Surrey and a certificate in Banking Studies.

Thierry Vallet – Head of Strategic Development

Thierry is a qualified engineer who also holds an MBA from Groupe HEC in France. During his engineering career he has worked successively at Britannia Sugar Estate and Ireland Blyth Limited. He then left Mauritius to join the GPA – Groupe Generali in Paris, France in the insurance sector where he worked successively in the commercial and audit divisions. Since 2005, he held the post of Account Executive in Corporate Banking at MCB before joining AfrAsia Bank.

Management

Anil Fangoo - Head of Compliance

Anil has 19 years of experience in the banking field. He started his long and extensive career in the Legal Dept of the Indian Ocean International Bank Ltd now SBI Mauritius in the mid 1990 until 2009. As a Branch Manager, he successfully mastered the Retail and Corporate Banking. He has also specialized knowledge and experience in Legal and Credit Recovery. Anil was heading the Legal and Compliance Department at SBI Mauritius before joining AfrAsia Bank as Head of Compliance in July 2009.

Arvind K Jha - Head of Global Business and Structured Trade

Arvind brings with him more than 24 years of experience in different facets of banking. He has hold many challenging positions in State Bank of India. His last assignment in SBI was as General Manager, SBI International (Mauritius) Ltd before joining AfrAsia Bank in November 2008. Arvind is B.Sc, MBA, Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) and also the recipient of prestigious C.H. Bhabha Research Scholarship & Award given by Indian Bank’s Association.

Jen Ramanah – Money Market Executive

Jen started his career at the Government Audit department before joining the Bank of Mauritius in 1980 where he gathered wide ranging experience culminating as a Senior Dealer in the Financial Markets Department. Jen also worked at the Mauritius Commercial Bank as the Chief Money Market Trader before joining AfrAsia Bank. Jen holds a Bsc (Hons) Management from The University of Mauritius and an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School.

Jennifer Jean-Louis - Head of Finance

Jennifer is a Fellow Member of the Taxation Institute of Australia. She started her career in Audit and Taxation Division of BDO De Chazal du Mée in 1991 before joining FedEx and International Management Mauritius (IMM – a Global Business Management Company) in senior accounting positions. For the past 8 years, she has specialised in the areas of finance and taxation in Australia. She holds a Masters degree in Applied Finance and is a Chartered Accountant.

Joelle Ng - Head of Credit & Risk

Joelle is a banker with 13 years of experience. She started her career at the HSBC in 1994 in Customer Service and Sales. She occupied successively the posts of Branch Manager, Credit Recovery Manager and Credit Risk Manager. She joined the Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd as Special Assets Manager in January 2007. Joelle Ng holds an International Certificate for Financial Advisers of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and a certificate in Banking Studies from the University of Mauritius

Suneeta Motala – Head of Marketing and Public Relations

Holder of a Pre Associateship from the Chartered Institute of Bankers and an International Certificate for Financial Advisors from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), Suneeta has 13 years experience in the banking sector. She started her career at HSBC in 1994 and held several responsibilities in the Credit Risk and Sales & Marketing departments. She held the post of Branch Manager at HSBC before joining MPCB in October 2003 as Head of Strategic Marketing. Suneeta joined AfrAsia Bank as Head of Marketing in July 2007.

Soodesh Beegun – Head of IT and Operations

Soodesh Beegun holds an MBA with specialisation in Information Systems from University of Technology Mauritius. He also holds a Certificate in Banking Studies from University of Mauritius and a Certificate in Sugarcane Agronomy from “Centre Regional de Formation Sucriere pour L’Afrique” MSIRI/PNUD. He is also holder of an Oracle DBA and WEB programmer’s Certificates from NIIT - Mauritius.

Soodesh has 16 years experience in Banking and 20 years in IT. He started his career in Textile Industry in 1986 and subsequently joined Indian Ocean International Bank Ltd in 1987 as clerk and was responsible for computer systems before joining FUEL Sugar Estate in 1994 as Assistant Planter’s Adviser and has been involved in project management in the Tea Land Conversion and Mechanisation for planters community of F.U.E.L. He has been also involved in Training in Information Technology and Software Development since 1989 on a free lance basis. He was working for SBI Mauritius (former Indian Ocean International Bank Ltd) as Head of IT since 2000 before joining AfrAsia Bank at end of March 2009.

Yogesh Gokool - Head of International Banking, Trusts and Custody

Yogesh is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and has over 14 years experience in retail banking, Global Business and private wealth management, fiduciary services. He began his career in 1994 in retail banking before moving to International Financial Services Limited, a leading Management Company in Mauritius in 1997 where he rose to the position of Executive, overseeing a team specialising in management of offshore funds and Global Business companies for international clients. He has worked extensively with listed investment funds. Prior to joining us, Yogesh has been working with Deutsche Bank, Mauritius for 5 years where he was until recently heading the fiduciary services division. His duties included working with professional trust specialists in Guernsey, London, Geneva, Singapore and Hong Kong, providing estate and wealth transfer planning solutions to target high net worth individuals around the world and assisting in the design of offshore structures which are responsive to the personal and financial needs of high net worth clients.

Relationship Team

Bilal Bahemia – Relationship Manager Wealth Management & Regional Business

Holder of a BSC in Banking and International Finance (Adelaide Australia) and an MBA (South Africa), Bilal has had Private Banking experience at State Bank of Mauritius and Banque De Mascareignes. He subsequently joined Banque SBM Madagascar as Deputy Chief Executive Officer before moving to Afrasia Bank.

Chris Maddison - Personal Banker

Chris has 8 years experience within the banking sector, and possesses established experience in the South African Private Banking market.
He has been a Private banker in the leading Private banks like Ned Bank and ABSA based in South Africa, where he developed strong relationship skills.
He is an expert in his field and is currently completing his MBA. Chris has joined AfrAsia bank as a Personal Banker to service the South African and international markets.

Guylaine Lennon – Relationship Manager Wealth Management

Guylaine Lennon is a banker with more than 25 years of experience. She worked at the Mauritius Commercial Bank, where she held several positions in Credit and Customer Service. Prior to joining AfrAsia Bank, she spent the last 5 years as Account Executive at Head Office Branch and Private Banker.

Ian Sababady - Relationship Manager

Ian has been working in the banking sector for the last 12 years. He started his career with HSBC Mauritius in September 1998 before joining Banque des Mascareignes (Groupe Caisse d’Epargne France) in June 2004. As one of the first Customer Account Officers, he has helped to set up the first branch and acquire the first customers. He then moved to Tamarin to start a new branch and worked there as Branch Manager leading the commercial team, and managing all operations and credit risk. Ian joined AfrAsia Bank in August 2009.

Jacques Bignoux - Relationship Manager Corporate

Holder of a BCom Management & Tourism Planning from Monash University in Melbourne (Australia), Jacques started at State Bank of Mauritius Ltd (2005) as a Relationship Manager in Corporate Banking (Very Large Companies) where he managed a portfolio of clients in the Automobile and Commerce sectors respectively. He then joined HSBC Bank Mauritius Limited (2007) as Vice President Global Banking (Offshore) where he looked after the development of GBC2, Africa and Thailand market, prior to joining AfrAsia Bank Limited as Relationship Manager Corporate Banking.

Nadeem Abdul Carrim – Senior Relationship Manager

Nadeem has been working in an International Banking environment since 2001 at Bank Internasional Indonesia, before moving to AfrAsia Bank. He stepped in the banking sector as part of the operation team before moving, leading and developing the sales force of the bank. He holds a degree in Marketing and Supply Chain Management from the University of Natal, South Africa.

Parama Pillay - Relationship Manager Corporate

Holder of a BA in Accounting & Finance from the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), Parama started at State Bank of Mauritius Ltd (2004) as a Relationship Manager in Corporate Banking (Medium & Larger Companies) where he managed a portfolio of clients in the manufacturing, textile, real estate, tourism and job contracting sectors respectively and then joined Banque des Mascareignes Ltée (2007) as a Relationship Manager (Very Large Companies) where he also specialised in the field of Real Estate with a focus on Integrated Resorts Scheme projects .

Sewlyn Lee – Relationship Manager Wealth Management

Sewlyn is a 25 years experienced banker from State Bank of Mauritius Limited. She has worked in various departments before spending the last eight years in relationship management at Corporate Banking and then Premier Banking and subsequently managing a portfolio of clients in Private Banking, prior to joining AfrAsia Bank.


Find out how to
	Fly different
	Apply Online
	Refer & Win

Copyright 2007 - 2010 © AfrAsia Bank Limited | Disclaimer | Designed by eServices