Ashok Vaswani to be the New MD and CEO Of Kotak Mahindra Bank

Kotak Mahindra Bank, on 21 October 2023, announced the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the new managing director (MD) and chief executive officer(CEO) for a period of three years. Mr Vaswani will take charge from 1 January 2024.

The Bank said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had approved the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the Bank's CEO and MD under section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. 

Under section 35 B of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, no banking company regulated by RBI can appoint an MD and CEO without the approval of the RBI. The Banking Regulation Act 1949 gives RBI the power to regulate banking companies in India.

Ashok Vaswani will replace the founder of the Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak. Uday Kotak, former MD and CEO of the Bank will resign on 1 September 2023. He was the MD and CEO of the Bank for almost 15 years. 

Ashok Vaswani 

Ashok Vaswani has been associated with the American multinational bank Citigroup and the British multinational Bank Barclays. 

He was the CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific and a member of the Citigroup Global Operating and Management Committees.

Later, he joined Barclays Bank as the Chief Executive Officer of their Global Consumer, Private, Corporate and Payments business and was also a member of the group executive committee.

Mumbai-based Kotak Mahindra Bank is a leading private-sector bank in India. It started its banking operation in 2003.

Tagline of Kotak Mahindra Bank: Let's make money simple