Citi's retail bank head, T. R. Ramachandran will follow Bert Paterson as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aviva India Life Insurance.

Ramachandra joined the bank in 1989 and has been one of the founding members of Citi's Global Consumer Group in India. Widely regarded as one of the leading architects of the Cards industry in India, Ram has built a track record of achievements across a wide variety of assignments and has worked in several geographies in key leadership positions including consumer finance, auto loans, personal loans, community banking. His role as a Head - Retail Bank, Citibank, India started from March 10, 2008. Prior to this position he was the Business Head for mortgages and personal loans. Citi has the largest retail portfolio among foreign banks in India.

Mr. Ramachandra will be the first Indian to head Aviva's operations in the country. Until now the company's India operations were headed by senior executives on deputation from Aviva. In his new role, Ram would have to leverage brand awareness and convert it into growth in business. He will also have to improve the company's distribution.

Aviva is UK's largest and the world's fifth largest insurance Group. In India, Aviva has a long history dating back to 1834. At the time of nationalization it was the largest foreign insurer in India in terms of the compensation paid by the Government of India. The company was the first foreign insurance company in India to set up its representative office in 1995. Aviva is also accredited to the introduction of Bancassurance in India and in the last fiscal company suffered as this segment took a knock.

Ramachandran is the second Citibanker to head a local insurance company. The CEO of Aegon Religare Life Insurance, Rajiv Jamkhedkar was also the head of personal lending and Citi business, SME segment.

In recent months many players are heading towards the insurance sector as salaries in this segment have been climbing constantly. Two other insurance CEOs, Nitin Chopra of Bharti Axa Life and Ajay Bimbhet of Royal Sundaram, earlier were retail bankers at ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank, respectively.