EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. There is a surprising change in the public profiles of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of India’s first and second largest private sector banks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. What are the implications?
Both Sashidhar Jagdishan and Sandeep Bakshi stepped into the shoes of high-profile predecessors: the iconic...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s decision to grant a 1-year extension to Vishwavir Ahuja, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), RBL Bank is similar to the 1-year extensions it provided to Murali Natarajan, CEO, DCB Bank and Shyam Srinivasan, CEO Federal Bank. In recent times, Udak Kotak, CEO-founder,...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. In the last 7 1/2 years private sector banks have increased their market share in overall deposits and credit in the industry. More importantly, in the critical metropolitan (population 1 mn+) areas, which account for the majority of banking business, their gains have been even higher. Government...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On February 27, 2020 the Reserve Bank of India
finally approved Sumant Kathpalia as the CEO who will succeed Romesh Sobti when
the latter retires on March 23, 2020. Kathpalia, who has a background in
consumer finance and wealth management, will be taking charge of a bank which
is facing stiff...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On January 7, 2021 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued instructions to commercial banks to safeguard the independence and competence of the internal audit function, and laid down norms for the functioning of the department and the appointment of the head of internal audit. While it...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Citi’s decision to withdraw from consumer banking in 13 geographies, including India, and focus instead on corporate/institutional banking, is a lesson in missed opportunities, at least in the case of India. Citi India was the pioneer in consumer banking, in products such as mortgages and credit cards,...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On April 23, 2020, Franklin Templeton India (FTI) took the unprecedented step of winding up its six debt mutual fund schemes. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) then ordered a confidential audit report on this fiasco. Excerpts of the report have now appeared in the...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. ICICI Bank’s 1QFY2022 results on July 24, 2021 highlight the need for shareholders to re-examine the bank’s retail asset strategy. ICICI Bank’s strategy was to focus on retail assets to compensate for the bulky poor-quality corporate assets that it had earlier emphasised. However, the broad economic slowdown...
The gap between Axis Bank’s own portrayal of customer experience and the reality of customer complaints recalls Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Let us begin with Dr Jekyll. The bank claims, in its FY2022 Sustainability Report, that “we are committed to delivering the greatest...
