[ G C L E G E N D | S A M I R P A N D I R I ]
Samir Pandiri is president of Broadridge International , responsible for post-trade technology , global proxy , and asset management data and technology businesses outside of North America , with a special focus on Europe and Asia . He joined Broadridge in 2019 from BNY Mellon , where he was most recently global CEO of the asset servicing division and a member of the senior leadership team .
At what point in your working life did you discover securities services ? I studied chemical engineering at university , and that ’ s what I worked at for a number of years after I graduated . So , for me , the securities services industry was really happenstance in terms of how it came about . I first entered into finance almost two and a half decades ago and started working on the banking side . Over the years we lived in Hong Kong and London for more than a decade covering international markets . For me , it was always about understanding client problems , whatever they ’ re trying to solve for , and finding solutions . From a banking perspective , the securities services industry was an area where there was lots of activity , lots of scope for transformation and lots of change underway . That ’ s really how I got thrown into it . It was quite accidental and certainly quite removed from my chemical engineering background .
Why did you go into banking in the first place , coming from a chemical engineering background ? Quite early on in my career , I wanted to live and work abroad and have a global career . It was something that both my wife and I had wanted to do , and which is quite hard to do as an engineer . I went back to business school and got my MBA from Columbia in New York . Banking seemed to offer that kind of international journey . At that stage we had no kids , and it was quite easy to be mobile . Our first assignment was in Hong Kong . It was a very interesting time . I worked there from ’ 95 to ’ 99 , two years before the handover and two years after the handover , so we found ourselves in the middle of this really pivotal historic change . From Hong Kong , we moved to London and lived there for a number of
Legend
SAMIR PANDIRI
Global Custodian catches up with Samir Pandiri to discuss the lessons of a career involving senior executive roles both as a custodian and as a provider to the custody industry . years . Over the course of my 25 years in banking , I ’ ve covered an extensive range of markets . When I was running Bank of New York Mellon ’ s custody division , it was obviously a big global business and we had a footprint in numerous countries . I was travelling and visiting clients in Europe , in Asia , in Latin America , in Canada . That was very much what I wanted to do and was part of my career aspiration . I was very fortunate to have worked with companies that had a similar aspiration , which was to grow and build their international businesses , which by the way , is what I ’ m doing today at Broadridge .
Over those 25 years , has your perspective changed as you ’ ve seen the industry from both sides ? In one instance you are a user of technology , while here at Broadridge you are actually delivering the technology , but the who , the what , and the why are the same . Clients are looking for a lower total cost of ownership for their technology , while modernising at the same time . They want more digital and data solutions so that they can make decisions in real-time and do so on a global basis . And I think it ’ s important to have both those perspectives . As president of International at Broadridge , I look after all of our activities in Europe and Asia . We ’ re focused on delivering for our clients , delivering new technologies both organically and via M & A . Looking back , what would you say was the most exciting thing that happened in your career ? Or vice versa the most challenging , whether you overcame it or not ? Large-scale transformation projects are always difficult and you learn a lot in the process . When I was at Bank of New York Mellon , I undertook large scale transformation of the custody business to reposition our custody , operations and technology ; programmes like that are large and complex , but you can have meaningful outcomes .
54 Global Custodian Fall 2022