Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday said that it had received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval for appointment of veteran banker Ashok Vaswani as managing director and CEO of the bank. 

The appointment of Mr Vaswani was for a period of three years, with effect from the date of taking charge, which would not be later than January 1, 2024, the bank said in a press release. 

Currently, Mr Vaswani is president of Pagaya Technologies, a US-Israeli AI fintech. 

He was chief executive officer of Barclays Bank, UK, and subsequently CEO of their global consumer, private, corporate and payments businesses and member of the Group Executive Committee. Earlier, he was CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific and member of the Citigroup Global Operating and Management Committees. 

“I am delighted that the RBI has approved our recommendation, Ashok Vaswani, as the next MD and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank,” said Uday Kotak, the founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank. 

In September, Mr Kotak had stepped down as MD and CEO of the bank. He had resigned four months ahead of the end of his current tenure, which is December 31, 2023. The bank’s board had appointed Dipak Gupta, the joint managing director, as MD and CEO until December 31, 2023.