HDFC Bank CEO Splits Retail Loans Division Into Two

HDFC Bank CEO, Sashidhar Jagdishan, announced that the bank's retail loans division will be split into two segments: mortgage and non-mortgage, with two group heads and two regional heads for branch banking.

The move is a significant leadership restructure aimed at maximizing synergies with the bank's mortgage-financing parent. The restructure will create a retail-focused accountability structure that improves access to deposits, according to ET.

The split in retail loans division is expected to play a pivotal role in liability growth, a key investor metric for the largest Nifty constituent by weighting.

An internal memo has revealed that the changes will take effect from October 1. HDFC Bank is the only lender in India with a market value of over $100 billion.

Jagdishan, who is only the second CEO in the bank's three-decade journey to become India's leading stock leaderboard, emphasized in the memo that the organizational changes would enable a "very sharp focus on leveraging what we have built, and for enhanced execution."

The CEO's memo also highlighted the importance of customer centricity in the restructure, stating that "the reorganization, positioned for growth, has at its heart service to the customer and delivering value to its stakeholders, while continuing to fortify the brand's market competitiveness."

Arvind Kapil, who was previously the country head for retail assets, has been promoted to group head and will now oversee the mortgage business, including the bank's merged home loan business, loans against property (LAP), and sales business from the erstwhile HDFC.

Meanwhile, group head Arvind Vohra will be responsible for the bank's high-yielding unsecured, small businesses, and vehicle loans businesses.

Both Kapil and Vohra will continue to report to Jagdishan.

HDFC has divided its branch banking business into two regions. It has also opened more than 8,000 branches, with 40 per cent of them being new ones over the past two years, which has surpassed its private sector rivals in generating deposits per branch.

The majority of its branches have been opened outside urban areas, which were previously represented largely by state-run lenders.

As part of the reorganization, supporting verticals to the bank's liability business, will now be integrated with the retail branch banking. These include government and institutional business and alternate banking.