 has appointed former Citibank exeuctive Mr Murali Natarajan as its Managing Director and CEO){kind=link}
The Diamond Trust Bank Kenya (DTK) has appointed former Citibank exeuctive Mr Murali Natarajan as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for Kenya, with immediate effect, in a move expected to drive its consumer business in East Africa.
Mr Murali Natarajan has joined the Bank from DCB Bank India, where he was the immediate former Managing Director and CEO. Mr Natarajan, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree holder from Delhi University, is Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has over 40 years of global experience in banking and financial services, covering diverse geographies and banking verticals.
He will wake over from Mrs Nasim Devji, the immediate former DTB Kenya Managing Director and CEO. Mrs Devji was the Group CEO as well as the CEO for DTB Kenya.
Speaking on his appointment DTB Group CEO Mrs Nasim Devji said,”“As part of our regional business growth plans, we welcome Mr Natarajan, a seasoned commercial banker with a wealth of experience, to assume the substantive DTB Kenya CEO role. In this role, Mr Natarajan will provide strong leadership to elevate and accelerate the DTB Group’s Kenyan franchise business growth.”
The appointment of Mr Natarajan is part of Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Limited’s (DTB) recently announced strategic corporate reorganisation, focusing on enhanced regional business growth.
He previously served as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of DCB Bank, India between 2009 and 2024 and has over 40 years of global experience in banking and financial services, covering diverse geographies and banking verticals. Before joining DCB Bank, Mr. Natarajan was the Global Head of SME Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to Standard Chartered, Mr. Natarajan spent 14 years with Citibank’s consumer division working across various functions and businesses. During his long diverse career in banking, he worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and South Korea where he provided transformative leadership in building successful retail and SME banking franchises across these markets.
Owned by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), DTB has operated in East Africa for over seventy-five years and in May 2024 announced a corporate reorganisation in a move to acquire 10 million customers across the East Africa by 2026.
The reorganization will see Mrs Nasim Devji, who has spearheaded DTB’s growth plans for over twenty (20) years to dedicate more time and focus in broadening and strengthening DTB’s stakeholder relationships and franchises across the East Africa region, as the Group continues its future course of enhancing customer experience and its product offering through digitalisation and other initiatives.
As the Group CEO, Mrs Devji will continue to oversee DTB Group’s multiple entities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, ensuring synergy and expansion across different business units, promoting long-term sustainable growth.
In Kenya, DTB has recently set a solid foundation for successfully implementing their regional growth strategy. This strategy is focused on building and enriching customer value propositions by investing in people, digital capabilities, and skills.