AMN /
Indian-American Nandita Bakshi has been appointed the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of the West, a unit of French banking giant BNP Paribas. Fifty Seven year old Bakshi will replace Michael Shepherd as Bank of the West’s next President and Chief Executive Officer.
Nandita Bakshi earned a bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Calcutta and a masters in International Relations and Affairs at Jadavpur University. A New England News ‘Woman of the Year’ award recipient Bakhshi also serves on the board of the Consumer Bankers Association. Bakhshi previously held several leadership roles at different top Banks in US.
Bakhshi joins Bank of the West from TD Bank, where she held several leadership positions, most recently as Executive Vice President and Head of North American Direct Channels. In that role, she was responsible for driving innovation in direct and electronic channels to improve digital adoption and provide customers a unified banking experience. Earlier, she had served as Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Banking at TD Bank in the U.S., where she led product innovation and delivery across all retail channels, spanning more than 1,300 bank locations from Maine to Florida.
Prior to joining TD Bank, Bakhshi was Executive Vice President of Consumer Deposits and Payments at Washington Mutual in Seattle, now JP Morgan Chase. A 28-year veteran of the financial services industry, with broad experience in banking, Bakhshi has also held leadership positions at FleetBoston, now Bank of America, as well as at First Data Corp., where she was the managing director of their mobile payments division. Bakhshi holds a Masters of Arts degree in international relations from Jadavpur University in India.
“Michael has been instrumental in making Bank of the West a leading financial institution known for its financial strength and commitment to its clients and communities,” said Decraene. “For nearly a decade as CEO, Michael has led the transformation of Bank of the West into one of the leading regional banking organizations in the U.S.”
Shepherd’s career spans senior positions in banking, government and law, including recent service as President of the Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Advisory Council. He previously worked as General Counsel of Bank of New York and of Shawmut National Corporation and served in government as Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, Associate Counsel to the President of the United States and Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
Bank of the West is a regional financial services company chartered in California and headquartered in San Francisco with $75.7 billion in assets as of December 31, 2015. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West provides a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services through more than 600 offices in 22 states and digital channels. Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 75 countries with 185,000 employees.