At least three private bank chief financial officers (CFOs) and one from an insurance firm announced their exits in the past few days, moving to competitors or exploring new opportunities. All this, while the country’s largest lender, , has been on the lookout for a CFO for months.
Puneet Sharma (51), outgoing CFO of , will join as its next CFO.
He joins as designate from September and takes charge from December 1, the lender said on Monday. HDFC Bank’s current CFO, Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, 63, is on an extension and due to retire in October.
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Axis Bank on Monday said Sharma had resigned and would be relieved on August 31. The bank is now likely to appoint Rajeev Mantri, erstwhile CFO of , as Sharma’s successor, according to people aware of the matter.
Bandhan Bank on Monday said Mantri had resigned to pursue another opportunity. He had earlier served as CFO of Citi India.
The CFO’s role is critical in a bank, with the regulator mandating professional qualifications such as chartered accountancy to ensure high standards in accounting and loan classification.
Avaas Financiers had asked CFO Ghanshyam Rawat and chief risk officer Ashutosh Atre to resign after the National Housing Bank’s preliminary inquiries revealed loan classification irregularities.
In 2017, the Reserve Bank of India mandated that the position be filled only by chartered accountants with at least 15 years of experience, including oversight of financial operations, preferably in accounting and taxation. The CFO reports directly to the CEO and the board.
It is not just private banks—India’s largest insurer and largest bank are also looking for qualified CFOs. ’s CFO Sunil Agrawal resigned last week and will demit office on July 14; a replacement is yet to be announced. At State Bank of India, CFO Kameshwar Rao Kodavanti will complete his three-year term on June 30, with the bank yet to name a successor.
Earlier this month, appointed Bhavin Lakhpatwala, a senior finance executive from HDFC Bank, as its CFO, filling an over six-month-long vacancy.
The churn has triggered a domino effect across the industry, with senior executives moving between institutions and vacancies at one lender leading to appointments at another.
Amid this, at least three bank boards are set to see chief executive changes, including at HDFC Bank, which may consider reappointing Sashidhar Jagdishan. The other two are and , where the respective CEOs, Ashok Vaswani and R Seshadri, have indicated they do not wish to extend their tenures. Vaswani is returning to the US to be with his family, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Two internal candidates — Anup Saha and Paritosh Kashyap — have emerged as frontrunners to succeed him, the people said.
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