MUMBAI: Two days after its past non-executive chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned abruptly over unspecified differences in “values and ethics” and was replaced by Keki M Mistry, HDFC Bank has fired three of its senior executives for their role in the alleged mis-selling of Swiss bank Credit Suisse’s AT1 bonds as safe-haven assets in early 2025.
After Credit Suisse went belly up, it was forced to merge with another Swiss banking giant UBS in a government brokered rescue in June 2023.
Those reportedly asked to leave the bank are Sampath Kumar, group head of branch banking; Harsh Gupta, executive vice-president, Middle East, Africa, and NRI onshore business; and Payal Mandhyan, senior vice-president at the bank as the probe into alleged mis-selling continues, according to sources.
When they were asked to leave is not known, nor has the bank made any regulatory disclosures yet.
The issue of mis-selling came to light when a few NRI customers who were sold some of the AT1 bonds filed a complaint with the Nagpur branch of the economic offences wing of the Maharashtra police in July 2025. The bank through its branch in the Dubai International Finance Centre sold these bonds in May 2021.
These bonds were written down to zero in March 2023 after Credit Suisse was merged with UBS in June. AT-1 holders had to take a complete write-off.
A high-net-worth individual named four HDFC Bank officials. One of the complainants, Narendra Singru, a senior advisor at the Asian Development Bank, is represented by AK & Partners.
The other aggrieved investors include Ashutosh Tiwary, chief executive of MTN Guinea Bissau, Pankaj Sinha, a senior director at Coca-Cola, and Varun Mahajan, founder and director of Garava Investment & Consulting. Tiwary is currently based in South Africa and Mahajan in Dubai. The four investors are said to have invested around Rs 20-25 crore in the AT-1 bonds of Credit Suisse sold by HDFC Bank. "They were promised a return of 10-13%," said a source.
Following the allegations, the Dubai Financial Services Authority banned HDFC Bank from onboarding new customers in the city state due to failures in the sales process of these complex and high-risk securities.
Following this, the bank had in October sent two of its executives on "gardening leave" as part of the mis-selling probe.
HDFC Bank shares closed at Rs 781, down 2.2% from the previous day when it lost more than 5%, extending losses for a second day following Chakraborty’s resignation. The stock has lost around 7.5% in two days.