Private sector banks are facing serious talent churn at the top decks, including a CEO deciding not to seek a reappointment. While most of the churns have been at the finance departments of (CFOs) banks, the latest is three top level people reportedly moving out of Axis Bank’s capital markets side.
According to sources, Anil Agarwal, president and group head of institutional clients coverage, Vikas Shinde, head of debt capital markets, and Jimmy Tavadia, group head of trading at Axis Bank, have resigned.
None of these executive could be contacted nor did the bank confirm the development with TNIE.
While Agarwal has been with the Axis Bank for more than two decades overseeing strategic relationships with government entities, public sector undertakings and financial institutions, Shinde, has also been with the lender also for about two decades, largely working in the debt capital market team, and Tavadia joined the lender in 2019 and specialized in rates.
Axis Bank, the third largest private sector lender, has been the top arranger of rupee debt markets in the country for over more than two decades and also ranks first in the rupee loans league table so far this year.
The resignations come within days of Axis Bank losing its chief financial officer Puneet Sharma to HDFC Bank after being with the bank for over six years. Sharma will leave the bank by August 31, and join the largest private sector bank in October when the incumbent Srinivasan Vaidyanathan’ term ends.
HDFC Bank has also announced appointment of Rajiv Kumar, who is a retired civil servant as its part-time chairman, after the incumbent Keki Mistry, who took over the role for an interim three months period following the surprise resignation of Atanu Chakrabroty mid-March.
Last week, the fourth largest pirate sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank had said its chief executive Ashok Vaswani decided not to seek a new term after his term ends on December 31.
On June 27, Kotak Bank had said Vaswani would be leaving the bank for personal reasons, and he did not wish to seek re-appointment upon completion of his current term on December 31, 2026.
Vaswani took over the role in January 2024 after a leadership change. Previously he has worked with Citigroup and Barclays. Vaswani was the first CEO to lead the Uday Kotak founded bank after Kotak decided to leave the bank four months before his term was to end, in September 2023.
Earlier, Bandhan Bank’s chief financial officer Rajeev Mantri had also stepped down.
Before that Bhavin Lakhpatwala, an HDFC Bank veteran, had quit as executive vice-president to join smaller rival RBL Bank as its chief financial officer.
The Jaipur-based home loan lender Aavas Financiers’s CFO Ghanshyam Rawat was asked to quit.
Last week the national insurer, Life Insurance Corporation chief financial officer Sunil Agrawal, who joined the company right before its IPO in May 2022, resigned to pursue "better prospects". His departure is effective from July 14, 2026, despite his tenure previously being extended to March 2027. LIC has not yet named a successor to Agrawal who was LIC's first notable lateral hire from the private sector, joining in March 2022 to prepare the insurer for its massive initial public offering.
