MUMBAI: Axis Bank on Tuesday said it shortlisted three candidates who could succeed Shikha Sharma as its MD & CEO after she steps down in December.
The bank submitted the list of candidates to the RBI for its approval, and once the banking regulator selects the candidate, the process of succession will begin, Axis Bank said in a filing with the stock exchanges.
“This is to inform you that the Board of Directors of the bank has commenced the succession process to appoint a new managing director and chief executive of the bank,” it said, without disclosing the names. Some names doing the rounds include that of Bank of Baroda CEO P S Jayakumar and bank insiders V Srinivasan and Rajiv Anand.
It may be noted that the bank had originally reappointed Sharma for a fourth term for three years with effect from June 2018, but had to cut short the tenure due to the objection from the regulator. Subsequently, in April, Sharma announced her decision to step down by December.
The bank then roped in Egon Zehnder, a global leadership advisory firm, to undertake the executive selection process.
One of the reasons for the regulator’s disapproval for extending Sharma’s tenure was the steep spike in the bank’s bad loan ratio and the consequent dip in its profitability after the asset quality review in October 2015.
According to Sharma, the asset quality deterioration was due to the bank’s infrastructure bets over last few years, which haven’t paid off.Axis bank’s gross NPA ratio jumped to 6.77 per cent in March 2018, against five per cent a year ago.