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Mobile payment and ecommerce company, Paytm has announced that Goldman Sachs APAC chairman Mark Schwartz will join its Board of Directors. This appointment comes on the back of last week’s announcement, where ex-Google Head of Search Amit Singhal was appointed to the Board.
Mark is currently based in Beijing. He has over 27 years of experience in Goldman Sachs. He joined the firm’s Investment Banking department in 1979. After relocating to Tokyo as the President of the Japan unit in 1997, he became the Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific in 1999. He retired from the firm in 2001 but later rejoined as the Asia Pacific Chairman in 2012.
He played a major role in helping Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai with Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in New York in 2014.
Mark believes India to be one of the most dynamic and interesting economies in the world “and I’m incredibly excited about working with Vijay and his team,” he said.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm’s founder-CEO said, “We are honoured to welcome Mark to Paytm’s board. He has played a critical role in building leading businesses in the Asia-Pacific region and across the world. I am confident Mark’s insights would offer excellent leadership for Paytm as we work towards bringing half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy.”
Earlier in January this year, Amit Lakhotia, Vice President at Paytm, resigned from the company. Lakhotia had been heading the payments business at Paytm. In October, Paytm appointed Madhur Deora as its Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, for building, managing, and expanding Paytm’s financial services business.
Additionally, Paytm’s new venture payments bank is scheduled for launch this Diwali. The company has reportedly collaborated with IndusInd Bank, ICICI Prudential, and HDFC Mutual Fund in order to offer services in the area of banking, insurance, and mutual funds, all of which require a strong core team and focus from senior members in the industry.
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