Born into a modest Indian middle-class family, Chandresh Ranjan grew up with a simple dream to secure a respectable career that could bring stability and pride to his family. What began as an MBA journey rooted in aspiration has since evolved into a remarkable leadership story.
Over the years, Chandresh has been at the forefront of building and shaping banking institutions from the ground up. At Fino Payments Bank, he was part of the founding team that set up the Liabilities and Cards vertical, creating simple yet scalable solutions for mass-market customers.
At Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, he laid a strong foundation for its liabilities and cards business, designing products that became industry benchmarks, including the much-celebrated Garima Savings Account. Today, as Head of Cards at Al Fardan Exchange, he continues to redefine the cards and liabilities space, building innovative solutions that combine trust, convenience, and digital-first experiences for millions of customers across the Middle East.
He is a distinguished banking professional with over 17 years of banking experience in retail liabilities, card products, NRI banking, innovative product strategy, and digital banking. He has completed his MBA from St. Joseph’s Institute of Management and an Advanced Master’s Program from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore. Ranjan combines his strong business acumen, strategic thinking, and analytical skills to sail through complex business ecosystems. A renowned name in the banking sector, he has also launched and managed liability products in premier financial institutions, namely IndusInd Bank, Jana SFB, and Axis Bank.
Stepping into The Banking World
Banking fascinated Chandresh from the very beginning. In India, banking is seen as a profession of immense respect, second only to civil services. A vivid memory from his MBA days, visiting an Axis Bank branch in New Delhi, still stands out. The professionalism, energy, and customer engagement he witnessed convinced him that banking was not just a job, but a profession that can shape people’s financial journeys.
His career began as a Relationship Manager in NRI Banking at Axis Bank. While most of his peers followed the conventional path, Chandresh quickly identified gaps between customer needs and product offerings. Instead of staying silent, he studied regulations, processes, and risks to provide well-grounded feedback to product teams. This proactive approach marked the turning point in his career, eventually propelling him into product management.
“Do what challenges you and solve problems for others, as easy paths never lead to dream worlds.”
Role of Education in Redefining Leadership
Chandresh credits his MBA with laying the foundation of his professional journey. However, as responsibilities grew and the financial ecosystem rapidly evolved, he realised the importance of continuous learning. This led him to pursue advanced executive education, an endeavour that was both challenging and rewarding.
Balancing classroom learning with professional responsibilities and fatherhood was not easy, but it reshaped his perspective. The program emphasised the human side of leadership, i.e. inspiring teams, building accountability, and driving collaboration. It also gave Chandresh the ability to connect real-world challenges with academic insights, making him a more mature and inclusive leader.
“Learning never stops. One can learn anytime and from anyone if one has the right attitude.”
Retail liabilities: Heart of Consumer Banking
Ranjan asserts that retail liabilities are the heart of consumer banking. They are not just financial products but gateways into a customer’s relationship with the bank, serving as the primary acquisition tool and the most visible touchpoint in a consumer’s financial journey. Card and liability products, in particular, are highly customer-facing, driving engagement, trust, and convenience. Early in his career, he witnessed how mismatched products could result in customer dissatisfaction and attrition. This realisation pushed him to specialise in this space.
Gradually, the pace of digitisation, smartphone penetration, and the explosion of data availability fundamentally changed customer behaviour. People began expecting banking to come to them, not the other way around. Convenience, accessibility, and personalisation became non-negotiable. This shift inspired him to dive deeper into digital banking and design solutions where customers could engage with banking products from the comfort of their homes or offices. The real competition for banks today is not just other banks, but fintechs and even FMCG companies.
Their ability to put the customer at the centre, innovate continuously, and deliver exceptional experiences has set new benchmarks. For him, this is both the challenge and the inspiration to ensure banking products are not only functionally sound but also intuitive, relevant, and delightful for the customer.
Surmounting Challenges
One of the boldest moves in Chandresh’s career came in 2016, when he left a secure position in a leading bank to join Fino Payments Bank, a newly licensed institution aspiring to serve bottom-of-the-pyramid customers. As a founding team member, he set up the liabilities product vertical.
While it was a leap from comfort into uncertainty, he sensed a rare opportunity to build a bank from scratch and to shape its liabilities product vertical as part of the founding team. The biggest challenge was shifting focus from affluent to mass-market customers. Affluent clients demanded personalised service and experiences, while mass-market customers required simple, accessible, and digitally enabled solutions. The second challenge lay in compliance, i.e. designing products under tight regulatory oversight while still innovating. There was no blueprint to follow. Policies, risk frameworks, technology integrations, and distribution models all had to be designed from the ground up, while simultaneously training teams and educating customers to drive adoption.
Speed, Simplicity, and Convenience
While transitioning into digital-first banking systems, Ranjan realised customers were no longer comparing banks to banks; they were benchmarking their experiences against fintechs, e-commerce platforms, and even consumer tech brands. What they expected from financial services was speed, simplicity, and convenience delivered on their terms.
Earlier, products were designed primarily for functionality. However, digital-first thinking taught him that functionality alone is not enough. The experience must be intuitive, inclusive, and designed around the customer journey.
A real example that crystallised this perspective was when they introduced the 4-minute instant account opening process through a “Physital” model, a blend of digital technology with physical assistance. For their mass-segment customers, pure digital alone wasn’t enough as they needed trust and guidance alongside the tech. By embedding human touch into a digital journey, they created an acquisition model that was seamless, scalable, and widely adopted. It reaffirmed his belief that customer understanding must come before design, and when that alignment happens, success follows naturally.
His experience at Ujjivan SFB further cemented his reputation as a builder. Here, he designed industry-leading products like the Garima Savings Account, tailored specifically for women, and launched on International Women’s Day. It resonated deeply with customers and created a long-lasting impact.
“Understanding customer needs first, and then designing the solution, is the surest path to success.”
Digital-First Mindset
For Chandresh, digital-first has never been a buzzword; rather, it is a direction. He firmly believes that customers expect the same seamless experiences from banks that they enjoy from food delivery or ride-hailing apps. The success of his Physital onboarding model reinforced this belief that customers value speed and simplicity, but they also need trust and guidance. This taught him that digital-first doesn’t mean digital-only. Instead, it means customer-first, enabled by technology.
Balancing Innovation with Risk Management
Innovation is vital because it creates competitive advantage, drives growth, and elevates customer experience by solving problems in new ways. However, without the right risk management, it can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and missed opportunities for sustainable success.
For Chandresh, innovation and risk management are not opposites; rather, they are complementary forces. He balances the two through three guiding principles. First is to look through a customer-first lens. Innovation must address a real customer need, not just follow trends. Second, being an embedded risk framework, i.e. risk management is built into product design from day one, ensuring compliance and resilience without slowing down innovation.
Third is the Test–Learn–Scale approach, i.e., starting small with pilots, measuring impact, and refining before scaling, keeps financial, reputational, and operational risks under control while allowing bold ideas to progress.
Building Future Leaders
Leadership for Chandresh is not just about driving numbers or launching successful products or growing P&L. It’s about building people who can carry the vision forward. He has been fortunate to work under some of the extremely inspiring leaders who have shaped his thinking and leadership style, such as Anuradha Pai at Axis Bank, Ashish Ahuja at Fino Payments Bank, Shrinivas Murty at Ujjivan SFB, and Rana Vikram Anand at IndusInd Bank. They taught him resilience, accountability, and the value of big-picture vision. These experiences instilled in him the belief that growth happens when people are empowered, guided, and trusted.
Equally, he has invested deeply in mentoring his teams. Today, many of his reportees hold leadership roles across the banking industry: Anjani Mishra (Jio Payments Bank), Vinay Buchasia (Jio Payments Bank), Abhishek Goel (AU SFB), and Shriya Kamat (Jana SFB), among others.
“True leadership is measured not by what you achieve, but by the leaders you help create.”
Staying Ahead of Trends
Ranjan explains that in banking, especially in a VUCA world, competition is no longer with just another bank; rather, it’s with fintechs, tech giants, and even consumer brands. To remain relevant and competitive, products must combine convenience, trust, and innovation seamlessly. For him, digital transformation is not about chasing trends; it’s about ensuring that every product they design is future-ready, customer-first, and adaptable to change.
He also designs solutions that are tailored to specific customer segments, making them relatable and relevant. His work at Ujjivan SFB with the Garima Savings Account is a prime example of segment-focused innovation. A specialised account designed for progressing women, launched on International Women’s Day. The product not only addressed financial inclusion but also struck an emotional chord with customers. Ranjan mentions that the best way to stay ahead of trends is not to predict the future, but to design for it. Today at Al Fardan Exchange, he continues to apply the same principle, i.e. designing solutions that are both digital-first and customer-first.
Fintech Partnerships Essential for Growth
In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, Chandresh believes fintech partnerships are no longer optional; rather, they are essential for growth. Banks and exchange houses bring scale, trust, and regulatory expertise, while fintechs contribute agility, innovation, and customer-centric design. Together, they create products that are faster, smarter, and deeply relevant to today’s digital-first consumers. Fintechs enable banks to move from traditional, slow-to-market launches to plug-and-play, API- driven solutions.
With the UAE fintech market projected to grow from USD 3.16 billion to USD 5.71 billion by 2029, Chandresh believes collaboration is the key to sustainable growth. At Al Fardan Exchange, fintech partnerships already power prepaid innovations, embedded finance, and pilot-to-scale models. Rather than building everything in-house, he focuses on forging strong collaborations with fintechs. These partnerships accelerate innovation, extend reach, and enhance customer-centricity, while ensuring compliance, cost efficiency, and trust. They represent the blueprint for the next generation of card and liability products in the Middle East and beyond.
Future of Work
The next frontier in digital banking lies in artificial intelligence, open banking and data-driven personalisation, and this is what excites Chandresh the most. AI is transforming banking from a transactional service into a predictive, proactive, and highly personalised experience. For instance, consider a customer who has purchased a card product online and wishes to track its delivery. In a bank leveraging AI, the system identifies the caller through their registered contact number, pulls the entire history, recognises the pending delivery, and proactively asks if this is the reason for the call, immediately providing the current status. The result is a seamless, anticipatory experience that not only resolves the query efficiently but also builds lasting trust and loyalty.
At Al Fardan Exchange, he sees tremendous potential to implement such AI-driven capabilities to personalise prepaid and wallet experiences, anticipate customer needs, and proactively build products and services for them.
Guiding Philosophy
The principle that guides Chandresh is simple yet powerful:
“Do what challenges you and solve problems for others—easy paths never lead to dream worlds.”
From leaving his comfort zone at Fino to pursuing advanced education while raising a family, Chandresh has consistently chosen challenges that led to growth.
Advice to Young Professionals
Chandresh’s advice to young professionals is simple yet profound. He states, “Do what you love, but more importantly, love what you do”. Passion fuels persistence, and loving your work allows you to embrace every challenge as an opportunity to grow. Cultivate curiosity, learn from every situation and every person you encounter, take ownership, be accountable, and always focus on creating meaningful solutions for your customers.”
Begin by building a strong foundation, understanding the fundamentals of banking, risk, and regulatory frameworks. A solid base not only anchors decisions but also empowers innovation responsibly. Stay relentlessly customer-obsessed, because the most impactful products are born from empathy and a deep understanding of human needs.
Conclusion
Chandresh Ranjan’s journey is proof that true leadership is not about choosing the easiest path, but about embracing challenges, owning responsibilities, and creating solutions that matter. From his early struggles and bold career moves in India to his current role shaping the future of cards and liabilities in the Middle East, his story reflects resilience, vision, and an unwavering customer-first approach.
As the financial industry undergoes rapid digital transformation, Chandresh continues to stand at the intersection of trust and innovation, redefining how banking products engage, empower, and inspire. For young professionals, his message is clear: “Do what you love, but more importantly, love what you do. Take ownership, stay accountable, and never stop learning.”
With this philosophy guiding him, Chandresh Ranjan is not just building products; rather, he is helping to build the future of retail banking itself.
For direct contact with Chandresh, you can connect with him via LinkedIn. Here is his profile: linkedin.com/in/chandreshranjan
