Announcing Talwar's appointment as group chief executive, Stanchart Chartered Plc's chairman, Patrick Gillam said: ``I am delighted that Rana Talwar has agreed to lead the bank forward as chief executive in succession to Malcolm Williamson. Malcom has done a superb job for us and will continue to contribute to our strategic thinking. Rana is widely experienced and a respected banker with a very deep knowledge of our key Asian markets.''

A BA (Hons) in economics from St Stephens College, Delhi, Talwar joined Standard Chartered Plc from Citicorp where he held senior positions in operations, treasury, corporate and institutionalbanking.

From 1882 to 1995, Talwar was responsible for building up Citibank's consumer banking business across Asia, the middle-East and eastern Europe. He was subsequently in charge of all of Citibank's consumer business in the United States and Europe and for Diners Club globally. He rose to become Citicorp's and Citibank's executive vice-president in 1991 and was also a member of the policy committee for both.

The outgoing chief executive of Standard Chartered Plc, Malcolm Williamson, joined the bank in 1989 and was appointed to his current position in 1993. He will continue to serve the bank after October 1, 1998, as a non-executive director on its board.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 67.7 crore for the fiscal 1997-98. This is a 54 per cent increase over the preceding year's figure of Rs 70.6 crore, which is inclusive of a prior period item of Rs 27.4 crore.

Deposits at end-March 1998 stood at Rs 4,807 crore compared to the preceding fiscal's Rs 4,191 crore.Advances for the period were at Rs 3,179 crore as against Rs 2,594 crore. Non-performing assets as a percentage of total advances increased to 2.42 per cent from 1.57 per cent.