Days after the announcement of Amit Singhal’s appointment on the board of Paytm, the Alibaba backed startup has announced that it has added another person as board of directors, this time, it’s Mark Scwartz, Asia Pacific Chairman of Goldman Sachs.
Based in Beijing, Mark has an association of over 27 years with GS. He joined investment banking vertical of Goldman Sachs in 1979. In 1997, he was promoted as the head of Japan before becoming the Asia Pacific chairman in 1999. Mark retired from GS in 2001, however, he joined back as the president of Asia Pacific region in 2012.
Mark played a vital role in the much celebrated $25 Billion IPO of Alibaba in New York in 2014. He worked closely with Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai to get to the successful IPO. In a statement, he added that dynamic economies like India have always excited him and that he is excited to be working with Vijay Shekhar Sharma and his team.
Speaking on the development, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO Paytm stated that hi team is really honored to be able to work with a personality like Mark. He added that Mark has been instrumental in building big businesses in Asia Pacific region and around the world and that his experience and insights will be hugely beneficial to Paytm as they plan to get over half a billion Indians on the digital platform.
This announcement also holds value keeping in mind that Paytm is planning to announce their much anticipated venture, the payments bank on Diwali. The company has partnered with Indusind Bank, Icici Prudential and HDFC Mutual Funds to be able to offer services in diversified verticals related to banking.