In March this year, Standard Chartered appointed V. Shankar as CEO, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas with effect from 1 May 2010. Based in Dubai, he is the bank’s most senior executive located in the Middle East. A Singaporean, Shankar is known as ‘Bhagwan’ by his team and before joining Standard Chartered Bank in September 2001, he was with Bank of America in Asia and USA for 19 years. He completed his Masters in Business Administration at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a Bachelors degree majoring in Physics at the Loyola College, Madras. Has also holds a number of other non-banking responsibilities in Singapore, where he is a member of the Board of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and a member of the Singapore Government’s Economic Strategies Committee. He is married with one son and his interests include golf, cricket, tennis and modern art.