Mr. Bhandari is the principal founder and a leading shareholder of London based Monument Bank Limited (“Monument”) which is a digital-first platform focused on providing financial services (with a Bank of England full-banking license) providing digital access to high-value services and technology solutions in various geographies around the world. Prior to founding Monument, Mr. Bhandari was, until early 2018, Senior Partner of Apollo Global Management (NYSE “APO”) and Senior Partner & Managing Director of Apollo’s India vehicles: AGM India Advisors Pvt Ltd and AION Capital Partners. He joined Apollo in 2006 in its New York headquarters, worked in the London office and then launched Apollo’s India advisory firm (AGM India Advisors Pvt Ltd) in Mumbai in 2008 and continued to serve on Apollo related Boards until 2021.
In India, among other things, Mr. Bhandari established a strategic partnership with ICICI Bank, India’s largest non-government bank and designed a unique and pioneering fund strategy for investing in buyouts, special credits and distressed assets and led the fundraising of what became the largest PE fund in the country during the period of its launch in 2012. In India, Mr. Bhandari was involved with several industrial, media and financial services opportunities, and also formed ARCION, an asset reconstruction company.
Prior to focusing his efforts on investing in India, Mr. Bhandari began his investing career at the Harvard Management Company (which manages the endowment of Harvard University) and was later a member of a Harvard affiliated team providing advice on privatization, enterprise restructuring and the sourcing of foreign direct investment in Russia and other emerging markets
Mr. Bhandari is also currently active in various charitable and social impact initiatives including serving as Strategic Advisor to Kailash Satyarthi (Awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 2014), and is the Chairman of the UK Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, co-founder of the Freedom Fellows Scholarship Program and former member of the Finance Committee and Council of Governors of UCL (University College London), one of the leading institutions of higher learning in the UK.
Mr. Bhandari is a graduate with distinction of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mech Eng, S.B. ’87) and the Harvard Business School (MBA ’92). He has published numerous articles and speaks frequently regarding banking, fintech, macro-economic, finance and investment topics. He lives in London, England with his wife and two daughters.