The Reserve Bank of India has approved the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the Managing Director & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) for a period of three years.

The appointment is with effect from the date of taking charge, which shall not be later than January 1, 2024, KMB said in a regulatory filing.

This will be the first time in its 20-odd years of operations that the Bank will be helmed by an outsider. KVS Manian and Shanti Ekambaram, both Kotak Group veterans and Whole-time Directors on the Bank’s Board, were widely seen as top contenders for the CEO’s position.

“...Based on our application made to the Reserve Bank of India for its approval of the new Managing Director & CEO of the Bank on July 19, 2023, the RBI has...approved the appointment of Mr. Ashok Vaswani as the Managing Director & CEO of the Bank,”per the filing.

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KMB, in a statement, said, “Vaswani has a proven track record spanning three and a half decades, initially at Citigroup and more recently, at Barclays, of building and growing global businesses at scale, nurturing winning teams, establishing transformational partnerships, leveraging forward leaning technology, with a compelling business vision to deliver strong bottom-line growth.”

Vawani was Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Bank, UK and subsequently CEO of their Global Consumer, Private, Corporate and Payments businesses and Member of the Group Executive Committee. Earlier, He was CEO Citigroup Asia Pacific and Member of the Citigroup Global Operating & Management Committees. Currently, he is President of Pagaya Technologies Ltd - a US-Israeli AI Fintech. 

Vaswani is a Bachelor of Commerce, Economics and Accountancy, from the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics (Bombay University), CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, CS from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Executive Education from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

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Uday Kotak, Founder and Director, KMB, said, “I am delighted that the RBI has approved our recommendation, Ashok Vaswani, as the next MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Ashok is a world class leader and banker with digital and customer focus. I am proud that we bring a “Global Indian” home to build Kotak and India of tomorrow.”

Dipak Gupta, MD & CEO, KMB, emphasised that the choice of an external candidate is a board decision, which has been taken after a lot of thought and detailing.

“The philosophy, I think, which we are trying to say really is that there are lot of changes happening in the banking environment and it is important for us to get global talent into our country and address some of those.

“There is already in-house expertise in several areas. We want this expertise to continue. But we need that to be supplemented with global expertise….the Bank of tomorrow has to chase challenges not just internal and domestic, it will have to be ready for all types of challenges -- fintech, customer expectations, etc.,” he said.

Gupta underscored that there is no change in the roles of Manian and Ekambaram and they continue to be on the Board.

On his appointment, Vaswani said, “...With our proven leadership team we will take the bank to new heights. We will ensure that Kotak Mahindra Bank plays a meaningful role in India’s journey to being one of the top three economies in the world in the next 5 years, delivering shareholder value. At a personal level, l am delighted to come back home.”

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