MUMBAI: Smarting from the biggest punitive action by the regulator last week, Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday found itself in another crisis as its joint managing director Krishnan Venkat Subramanian aka KVS Manian tendered his resignation with immediate effect.
Manian, who is also a whole time director on the board, in his resignation letter, which the board accepted with immediate effect, said he is leaving the fourth largest private sector lender “to pursue other opportunities in the financial services space.”
Later, in an exchange filing, the bank said, “… please note that Manian ceases to be the whole time director designated joint managing director with immediate effect, on account of his resignation considered and accepted”.
Manian is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, with a degree in electrical engineering and a postgraduate in financial management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, alongside being a Cost and Works Accountant.
In a separate statement later in the evening, the bank said it has made a a new reporting structure to drive a sharper focus and leadership oversight to its business.
Accordingly, the wholesale, commercial and private banking will now report directly to Ashok Vaswani, the managing director and chief executive, while the asset reconstruction division will report to Shanti Ekambaram, the deputy managing director, who will also oversee the investment banking and institutional equities businesses.
Commenting on the development, Vaswani said, “Manian has spent over 29 years at Kotak and we are thankful to him for his association.”
The top level exit comes at a time when Kotak Bank is facing a crisis on its digital business growth after the Reserve Bank had on April 24 barred it from onboarding new customers and issuing fresh credit cards via the digital route. Most of its regular services are heavily dependent on the digital channel and many analysts including the global rating agency S&P said the RBI ban will badly hit the bank’s growth and profitability for at least one year.