Saurav Mishra, AVP-Treasury, HDFC Bank, Gives a Taste of Bank Treasury to XLRI Students

Saurav Mishra, AVP-Treasury, HDFC Bank, Gives a Taste of Bank Treasury to XLRI Students

The students of XLRI, Jamshedpur got a taste of Bank Treasury when Mr. Saurav Mishra, Asst. Vice President (Treasury), HDFC Bank Ltd., descended on their campus and addressed them on "Treasury in Banks".

Mr. Mishra was present as a part of their course on Fixed Income Securities. He made an interesting start by showing a few videos to the students to give them a feel of the importance and competitiveness of a bank treasury. He also spoke on 'the day in the life of a person managing a Bank Treasury desk and the kind of pressure he faces'.

According to India stats, 40% of assets in the Banking sector are into Investments. Treasury, popularly known as the heart of the bank, which is an important division in banks as it manages the risks and investments in markets. Hence, treasury has become an inseparable part of a bank's strategy to compete in the banking environment.

Mr. Mishra talked about the basic necessity for the existence of treasury in a bank.

According to him, with a volatile economy and with the Indian banking sector getting integrated with the rest of the world, the importance of managing risk in banks is unprecedented. Giving a contemporary context to the discussion, he discussed the origin and impact of sub-prime crisis on the global banking sector.

He then discussed the way most banks' treasuries are structured, and explained to the students about the various divisions like ALCO, trading, institutional sales and various other departments. Emphasizing on the cut-throat competition that exists between banks in the market, he said that with such an important role at hand, the manager of treasury has to be able to perform under pressure because a small mistake costs a fortune to the bank and career of the manager. According to him, the essential fun in the job is the rapid changing scenarios and need to keep oneself updated every minute.

Later in the day, Mr. Mishra also spent time with the first year students telling them about the career opportunities for MBA graduates from premier B-schools in the treasury department. He also emphasized on the emotional aspects of the roles wherein integrity and the ability to take calculated risks is of paramount importance.

"This session with Mr. Mishra, has been extremely informative and gave the students an insider view about how a bank treasury works - especially because he has experience in both the buy and sell side of the business. Such sessions from practitioners are the key to competitive advantage of XLRI graduates in industry, and that's why we have such sessions for most of our courses," says Saurabh Bagrodia, Secretary of Finance Association at XLRI (FINAX) and a 2nd year student. FINAX is an active student body at XLRI that takes up various such initiatives with the support of the professors and students.

Concluded.

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