Zarin Daruwala hit a high note as the CEO with Standard Chartered Bank (India) clocking its highest-ever profit before tax of ₹6,500 crore in FY22. Daruwala inherited a loss-making 100-branch franchise when she took over in 2015. In seven years, she not only brought down the bad loans from 20% to 0.5% currently, but also managed to boost the CASA (current account, savings account) ratio from 32% in FY15 to 55% as of March 2022 — one of the highest compared with other retail-centric banks such as HDFC, ICICI, and Axis. While on the corporate side, offering tailor-made solutions and API banking helped, on the retail side, the focus was on enhancing wealth proposition and improving service standards. “We focused a lot on digitisation,” says Daruwala. For instance, if a client is moving a large deposit from the account or pinging a credit bureau, the feedback loop is real time for the relationship manager to get into the act. “It makes the client experience better,” says Daruwala. The initiatives have helped the bank improve its CASA ratio by 3-5% year on year. Almost all the branches are now profitable, barring a few statutory ones operating in weaker locations. The remarkable turnaround has not gone unnoticed with global CEO Bill Winters calling out Daruwala a Star to watch out for! — V. Keshavdev