Former SBI MD Ashwani Bhatia appointed as Whole Time Member at SEBI

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced the appointment of Ashwani Bhatia as a Whole Time Member (WTM) at the regulatory body. Bhatia was the Managing Director (MD) of State Bank of India, the country's largest public-sector lender, before being appointed to the SEBI. The former SBI MD took charge as a WTM after the post remained vacant for nearly 7 months.

Bhatia attended Air Force School in Subroto Park, Delhi, and graduated from Dayalbagh University in Agra with a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics. He graduated from Jaipur's Podar Institute of Management with an MBA. Before becoming the Managing Director of SBI, Bhatia worked at SBI Funds Management Pvt. Limited, where he served as MD and CEO. With over three and a half decades of experience in the State Bank Group, where he joined as a probationary officer in the year 1985, Bhatia has a vast experience in Treasury Operations, Retail Banking, Credit, Investment Banking, and Asset Management.

While the veteran banker has worked for SBI in a variety of capacities before, with his appointment at SEBI, Bhatia will be responsible for overseeing the departments of Debt and Hybrid Securities (DDHS), Alternative Investment Fund, and Foreign Portfolio Investors Department (AFD), Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department (MIRSD), Corporation Finance Investigation Department (CFID) and the Office of Investor Assistance & Education (OIAE) according to the regulatory body’s press release.

With this appointment at SEBI, the regulatory body now has three WTMs. While legal experts have long claimed that keeping important positions unfilled at the body has hampered market development and made it difficult for the regulator to carry out critical tasks such as enforcement, the government is yet to appoint the fourth WTM at the regulatory body.

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