Nandita Bakhshi, a former bank teller, is CEO of Bank of the West
The future of banking, as with education, healthcare and other businesses, will be very different in the post-pandemic environment, Nandita Bakhshi, chief executive of the Bank of the West said today. She was speaking at a virtual conference on Workplace Evolution organized by Bloomberg.
Customer foot traffic is down significantly at bank branches, which have re-opened in the U.S. after the lockdown, Bakhshi noted. But overall business has picked up since many customers are banking online, having gotten used to it during the lockdown.
Bank of the West, with its head office in San Francisco, serves about two million customers in the U.S. It is a subsidiary of the French Bank BNP Paribas. Nandita Bakhshi also serves as co-Chief Executive Officer of BNP’s U.S. business.
While branches have re-opened with temperature checks and other safety measures, it is important to be agile since the pandemic situation could change, Bakhshi said. “Our choice is progress over perfection.”
Bank of the West offers customers a mix of low technology, like phone conversations, coupled with high technology, like online signing of documents. But while technology matters, the quality of the staff and culture of the bank are more important, she added.
The bank is focused on hiring back staff, many of them women including software engineers and coders, who left the workforce during the pandemic, Bakhshi said.
As CEO, Bakhshi oversees a team of more than 10,000 employees across Bank of the West’s five business lines: Corporate and Commercial Banking, Personal Finance, Retail Banking, Small and Medium Enterprise Banking, and Wealth Management.
Bakhshi says her bank will spend $1 billion by 2025 to meet environment, social and governance goals. As part of these initiatives, for instance, the bank offers a credit card that enables customers to track the carbon footprint of products they purchase as well as of their travels.
Nandita Bakhshi, 62 years old, joined the Bank of the West in 2016. During her first six months as CEO, she visited branches and met half of the workforce. During the pandemic lockdown, she sought to keep in touch with her employees through video chats. She also launched Nandita's Corner, a virtual office where employees are encouraged to share ideas with her and each other.
Bakhshi started her banking career as a part-time teller at a regional bank in New York state. During her more than 30-year career, she served as a senior executive with TD Bank; Washington Mutual in Seattle, which was acquired by JP Morgan Chase; FleetBoston, acquired by Bank of America; and First Data, bought by Fiserv.
She serves on the boards of the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum and Grameen America, which offers microloans, training and support, especially to women, to transform communities and fight poverty.
Bakhshi is unique among bank CEOs in that she does not have an MBA. She is also unique among successful Indian professionals in the U.S. since she did not earn an advanced degree in America. She holds a Master of Arts in international relations from Jadavpur University, India, and a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Calcutta.
With banking being an essential service, during the pandemic lockdown Bank of the West’s branches were open with masks, social distancing, fewer hours and other safety precautions. Yet, about 80% of the staff worked remotely from home.
Nandita Bakhshi said she missed having people around her while working, including personal conversations and learning from others. “I found out I was more of an extrovert than I assumed.”
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