Reserve Bank of India Approves Anup Bagchi as HDFC Bank MD & CEO After 90-Day Governance Reset

Key facts

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved Anup Bagchi, currently MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, as HDFC Bank's new MD and CEO; he takes charge from October 27 for a three-year term.
• RBI approved the new MD & CEO within 20 days of names being submitted, a notably short interval by the regulator's usual standards.
• Former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar was appointed part-time non-executive chairman of HDFC Bank, with RBI approval for a three-year term beginning July 15.
• HDFC Bank's board concluded its internal review of the MSRDC deposit matter, finding 'business overreach' but no mala fide intent, and imposed warning letters and a Rs 1 lakh monetary penalty on CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan, CFO Srinivasan Vaidyanathan and Group Head-Retail Assets Arvind Vohra.
• The MSRDC matter relates to mobilising large deposits from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation in 2017 and 2021, with about Rs 45 crore paid as differential return against a sought 6.01% return.
• In September, the Bahrain High Civil Court rejected the final two investor claims against HDFC Bank over Credit Suisse AT1 bonds, taking the total rejected cases to seven.
• On August 29, Sashidhar Jagdishan informed the board he would not seek reappointment when his term ends on October 26, and by September 12 two names were submitted to the RBI for consideration.