The ICICI Bank board, in its meeting on Monday, appointed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance CEO Sandeep Bakhshi as whole-time director and chief operating officer (COO), creating a new top position at India’s second largest private bank, to steer all its businesses. Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank’s managing director and CEO, who is facing conflict-of-interest allegations, will remain on leave until a committee investigating allegations of impropriety completes its work, the bank said in a statement. Bakhshi has been appointed for a period of five years. He will take charge as COO on Tuesday and report to the CEO; however, while Kochhar is on leave, he will report to the bank’s board, the ICICI Bank statement said. Also read:ICICI Bank panel drafts succession plan for Chanda Kochhar “Mr. Bakhshi will be responsible for handling all the businesses and corporate centre functions at the Bank. All executive directors on the board of ICICI Bank and the executive management will report to him. Mr. Bakhshi will report to Ms. Chanda Kochhar, who will continue in her role as MD & CEO of ICICI Bank," the statement said. Bakhshi will continue as non-executive director of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. The statement added that N.S. Kannan has been appointed as CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance for five years. Mint had on 1 June reported that ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar has been asked to be on leave till probe into the Videocon loan case is over. ICICI Bank, however, had then said the board has not asked Kochhar to go on leave. “She is on her annual leave which was planned in advance," the bank said in an exchange filing. The decision to name Bakhshi as COO comes after the board decided to set up a panel under justice B.N. Srikrishna to investigate allegations of conflict of interest and quid pro quo against Kochhar in the Videocon loan case. Separately, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is investigating whether ICICI Bank and Kochhar failed to make adequate disclosures to the bank’s board about her husband Deepak Kochhar’s partnership in a firm, NuPower Renewables, when the bank sanctioned loans to companies controlled by Venugopal Dhoot, the owner of Videocon group. Dhoot was also a founding partner of NuPower. Also read:ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar faces max ₹ 25 crore fine if found guilty The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also separately conducting a preliminary enquiry into the alleged nexus between Videocon and Kochhar’s husband. When the charges first surfaced, the ICICI Bank board in April dismissed all allegations, only to make a U-turn and set up an independent probe a month later. The latest move will test the resolve of the company’s shareholders and does not put the board in a good light, said one proxy advisory firm. “According to the press release, Chanda Kochhar has decided to go on leave rather than board asking her to go on leave. This shows that the board is a weak board and could not take an independent decision. There was a chance before the board to redeem itself but sadly, it appears that the board is singing to the tune of CEO Kochhar," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of proxy firm InGovern Research. “Of course, the board has given a graceful exit to Kochhar since the probe is not a time-bound investigation and the CEO’s term ends in March next year," said Subramanian. Since the allegations surfaced in late March, ICICI Bank’s shares have underperformed the Sensex. On Monday, shares of ICICI Bank gained 3.61% after The Economic Times reported that ICICI was planning to name Bakhshi as COO. In the past three months, the ICICI Bank board has added two independent directors and a new government nominee, but is yet to name a new chairman. Current chairman M.K. Sharma will retire at the end of the month. The biggest challenge facing Bakhshi will be to allay the concerns of investors, shareholders and regulators around corporate governance. Investors believe that he will also be responsible for resolving the bad loan problem, which has been plaguing the bank for the last three fiscal years. “The appointment of Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi as chief operating officer is the most practical middle ground that the board could have adopted. Mr. Bakhshi’s immediate priorities would be to get the executive leadership team to rally around; rebuild currency with stakeholders including the regulator, investors and shareholders; and install the support system that the probe committee needs in order to conduct its investigation in a fair and transparent manner," said A.S.V. Krishnan, a banking analyst with SBICap Securities. Bakhshi returns to ICICI Bank after serving as managing director and CEO of ICICI Prudential for eight years. He will be the senior-most official at ICICI Bank after Kochhar. He has headed both retail and corporate businesses across the ICICI group. Before moving to the bank, he had served as MD & CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.<doc-sep>Sandeep Bakhshi, who is seen as the stand-in chief executive of ICICI Bank, may well end up succeeding MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar, if the latter does not return from leave, analysts said. On Monday, the lender appointed Mr. Bakhshi as chief operating officer and whole-time director for five years, after Ms. Kochhar decided to go on leave pending the completion of an inquiry. The executive management of the bank will report to Mr. Bakhshi, who will in turn report to the board. Analysts say Mr. Bakhshi’s association with the ICICI Group over the past 32 years — in roles that included heading both retail and corporate businesses as deputy managing director of the bank — makes him a favourite to lead the bank. ‘Good reputation’ “We see Mr. Bakhshi as the de-facto interim CEO,” IDFC Securities said in a note to clients. “We believe he will take over as CEO from Chanda Kochhar later. His good reputation and his experience in banking and insurance make him an appropriate candidate for the CEO’s post. We believe he will continue with the existing policies of the bank.” A mechanical engineer with a post-graduate degree in management, Mr. Bakhshi earlier headed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. “Sandeep Bakhshi has been associated with the ICICI bank group... across its diverse verticals and other subsidiaries,” said broking firm Jefferies. “We believe that this deep association should aid a smooth transition.” In a report, Kotak Securities said the bank’s announcement of an interim change to the senior management addresses the concerns on business continuity. “While Mr. Bakhshi has strong credentials backing him to lead the bank, the preference of internal candidates to lead various business operations continues at the bank,” it said.<doc-sep>
ICICI Bank boss Chanda Kochhar volunteers to go on leave till the Justice BN Srikrishna probe ends. That enquiry was instituted to examine allegations of conflict of interest against Kochhar. ICICI Bank, battling a crisis following whistleblower allegations, named group veteran Sandeep Bakhshi as chief operating officer and said that long-serving boss Chanda Kochhar will go on leave pending the completion of an internal probe. That probe will seek to determine alleged wrongdoing in the sanctioning of a Rs 3,250 crore ICICI loan to the Videocon Group. The bank's Board, at its meeting on 18 June, decided to appoint Bakhshi as the lender's wholetime director and COO. His appointment as COO will be for a period of five years, subject to regulatory approvals. Bakhshi will take over as the COO from 19 June or on the date of regulatory and other approvals, whichever is later, the Mumbai-traded lender said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Bakhshi will report to MD and CEO Kochhar, who will continue in her role. However, Kochhar has volunteered to go on leave till the completion of the probe, instituted to examine allegations of conflict of interest against her. During Kochhar's period of leave, Bakhshi will report to the Board. Bakhshi has been the MD and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. The ICICI Bank Board also recommended to the Board of Directors of ICICI Prudential Life to appoint NS Kannan as the MD and CEO of the company subject to regulatory and other approvals, the statement added. ICICI Bank has mandated retired Supreme Court (SC) judge BN Srikrishna to preside over the above-mentioned probe, which will look into allegations that Kochhar did not adhere to provisions relating to the bank's 'code of conduct', and also examine whether Kochhar was involved in any quid pro quo transactions with certain borrowers. "The scope of enquiry would be comprehensive and will include all relevant matters arising out of and in the course of examination of the facts and wherever warranted, use of forensics/e-mail reviews and record statements of relevant personnel, etc," the bank had said on 31 May. The Board had on 28 March reposed full faith in Kochhar after allegations of possible conflict of interest, a lack of disclosure and possible quid pro quo first surfaced against her, following a complaint by activist shareholder Arvind Gupta. Even as the Board stood by her, details of misdoings emerged in the media, triggering a multi-agency probe against Kochhar by various law enforcement agencies. The cases under scanner include the bank's Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012 and the involvement of Kochhar family members, including Chanda's husband Deepak, in the sanctioning of the loan and the restructuring of the same. With inputs from agencies