Rajnish Kumar (MD, SBI) on Wednesday) named as successor to the outgoing Chairman MD Arundhati Bhattacharya who will be completing her extended tenure on 06th October. He will take over as SBI Chairman with effect from October 7 and will continue till Oct 2020. According to officials, Kumar will get a four-year term as chairman and managing director (CMD). He told media persons that 'improving asset quality will be among his top priorities'. Kumar also added that, these are challenging times for the banking sector and it will be his responsibility to carry forward the work done by MD Arundhati Bhattacharya. He added, "It will be difficult to step into her shoes - they are too large". Kumar was heading SBI Capital Markets Limited (the Merchant Banking arm of State Bank of India) as MD & CEO, prior to becoming Managing Director in SBI. Kumar started his career with SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1980. He was elevated to the post of SBI MD in March 2015 and has been with the lender for three decades.