HDFC Bank Shuffles Top Management Following Mega-merger
HDFC Bank is undergoing significant changes in its top-level management as it strives to boost its mortgages business, following the acquisition of another lender three months ago. The bank communicated these alterations in a memorandum to staff late on Sunday, as disclosed by individuals familiar with the situation, who preferred to remain anonymous when discussing confidential matters.
According to these sources, the bank has placed the information technology and digital functions, overseen by Ramesh Lakshminarayanan, directly under Chief Executive Officer Sashidhar Jagdishan. This strategic move towards technology aims to expand the range of products and services offered across its branches. Ashish Parthasarthy, a seasoned figure at the bank who has led the treasury since 2009, will now assume responsibility for the pivotal retail branch business, overseeing deposits and product distribution.
The bank's shares have been seeing fluctuations following its acquisition of Housing Development Finance Corp. in July, becoming one of the largest banks. In addition, it received a significant downgrade last month from Nomura Holdings Inc., which highlighted the concerns regarding HDFC's return on assets and pressures on loan growth.
Last April, HDFC agreed to acquire the largest mortgage lender in the country in a deal worth approximately USD 60 billion. This merger, resulting in a combined market value of nearly USD 190 billion at the time, followed a proposal by the banking regulator for large non-banking finance companies to transition into banks, preventing a recurrence of the nation's significant shadow lending crisis in 2018.
Under Parthasarthy's leadership, the bank is reorganising the geographical management of the retail branch business to supervise its expansion and product strategies in a more systematic manner, as stated by insiders. This effort will be co-led by Smita Bhagat and Sampath Kumar. Bhagat, a prominent female leader within the bank, previously held the position of group head for government and institutional business, ecosystem banking, inclusive banking, and start-ups. Kumar, on the other hand, served as the group head of liability products, third-party products, and non-resident business at the bank.
HDFC Bank has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Other significant changes include Arvind Vohra, who previously led the retail branch business, now overseeing the bank's retail assets, excluding mortgages, which will be managed by Arvind Kapil, as previously announced. Parag Rao, who previously oversaw payments, consumer finance, and digital banking, now has an expanded role, overseeing product liabilities and management, including marketing.
Rakesh Singh will continue to lead investment banking and private banking, and will also take on additional responsibility for the offshore international business, according to insiders.
