Bhavna Kumar is moving from Deutsche Bank to BNP Paribas India as managing director, centre of excellence (CoE), after more than a decade with the German lender.
It is not simply a move between two global banks. Much of Kumar’s recent career has been spent handling the people side of businesses that cut across functions, countries and large technology workforces.
In her most recent role at Deutsche Bank, she was global HR lead for Investment Banking, Sustainability, Risk, Finance and Treasury Technology. The remit covered around 8,000 employees across the US, UK, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, putting her at the intersection of technology, business transformation and people strategy.
Before taking on the global role in April 2025, Kumar had already held several HR leadership assignments at Deutsche Bank. These included heading HR for Infrastructure India, where she supported Finance, Technology, Risk and other infrastructure functions across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Jaipur.
Her experience with large and dispersed workforces predates Deutsche Bank. At Standard Chartered Bank, where she spent more than eight years, Kumar worked across HR, transformation, mergers and acquisitions, talent acquisition and talent management. As regional talent manager for South Asia, she worked with a population of around 10,000 employees across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, including more than 600 employees identified as talent.
Between Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank, Kumar spent two years as head of HR at Trafigura. She had earlier headed HR at Standard Chartered Securities, leading the people agenda for its retail and institutional equities business, which had more than 650 employees across 19 locations.
Kumar began her HR career with Johnson & Johnson Medical India in 2003. An alumna of XLRI Jamshedpur, she holds a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Announcing the move, Kumar said she looked forward to working with leaders and colleagues at BNP Paribas to build a people agenda supporting business growth, leadership and an inclusive, high-performing culture.
