The group presidents and whole-time directors Shanti Ekambaram and KVS Manian are being seen as the internal candidates for the CEO role
Kotak Mahindra Bank’s board has reportedly engaged consulting firm Egon Zehnder to lead a global search for the chief executive officer (CEO’s) replacement. As per a report, Egon Zehnder will lead the search to find a replacement for the billionaire founder Uday Kotak.
According to a Bloomberg report, the group presidents and whole-time directors Shanti Ekambaram and KVS Manian are being seen as the internal candidates for the CEO role. However, in order to ensure that Kotak Mahindra Bank gets the right person suitable for the job, the board is expanding its search.
The report also adds details on Uday Kotak’s tenure. It mentions that the billionaire founder Uday Kotak has been leading the bank since its birth as a non-banking financial institution in 1985. In 2003, when the entity became a commercial lender, that’s when its doors also opened to the common person. As of 2022, Kotak Mahindra Bank has close to 1700 branches across India, Bloomberg reports.
As far as Jay Kotak, son of Uday Kotak is concerned, as per Bloomberg, he is not a contender for CEO as of now. Once Uday Kotak transitions from his CEO position, he may or may not take charge of other duties – what happens, is for the time to tell.
Coming to the internal candidates – Ekambaram reportedly joined Kotak Mahindra Bank in 1991 and is now its highest-ranking woman and continues to lead its consumer banking. The Bloomberg report adds that Manian, who joined in 1995, heads the wholesale banking and wealth management business.