
Crisis-hit IndusInd draws top search firms scouting for mandate to find new CEO
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The board of IndusInd Bank is expected to appoint a search firm to look for a new chief executive officer even as it awaits an audit report on accounting lapses. Some of India’s top executive search firms told Mint that they are scouting for the mandate and have even received calls from senior banking sector officials to be in the race for the top job.
A person aware of the development said that IndusInd Bank's board of directors recently met and decided to appoint a search firm this week to kickstart the process of hiring its new CEO. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the bank’s board of directors to send a list of external candidates to choose the bank’s next chief executive, according to reports. Bank boards usually send the list of candidates to the RBI about six months before the incumbent's term ends.
The search for a new CEO stems from recent regulatory scrutiny on the private lender. It started with RBI's 6 March letter to IndusInd--a gist of which the bank shared with the stock exchanges a day later. The regulator approved a year’s term for current CEO Sumant Kathpalia instead of the three-year extension the board sought.
That did not prepare the markets for what came three days later after the close of trading hours. On 10 March evening, the bank admitted that in the September-October quarter, it identified discrepancies in its derivatives portfolio. Shares of the lender plunged 27.2% the next day.
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