Kotak Bank MD & CEO Ashok Vaswani: 'Crucial to scale for relevance, not just for the sake of size'
Last year, Kotak Bank made a surprising move by appointing Vaswani, a global banker, as its new MD & CEO.
- Jul 14, 2024,
- Updated Jul 14, 2024 2:24 PM IST
Ashok Vaswani, new MD & CEO of Kotak Bank, believes that while transforming for scale, it is crucial to 'scale for relevance, not just for the sake of size'. "If you get it right by the customer, everything else will fall into place. If you don’t get it right by the customer, then nothing else matters," said Vaswani in his first address to shareholders.
Last year, Kotak Bank made a surprising move by appointing Vaswani, a global banker, as its new MD & CEO. Before exiting, the billionaire banker Kotak had put together a new strategy and a team to guide the bank's transformation into a tech-savvy institution by focusing on building customer excellence similar to e-commerce giant Amazon.
"We are deeply determined to get it right by our customers by understanding their needs and building appropriate propositions and thus being the right partner to them – which sometimes may even mean saying no," he said. "The credit goes to Uday Kotak, who has built this exceptional business."
Starting with bill discounting in the mid-1980s, Uday Kotak transformed his company from a small player in financial services into the Kotak Mahindra Group, a financial superhouse. In nearly four decades, the group has scaled up significant assets, loans, and market capitalisation. It boasts a diverse presence across financial segments, including banking, insurance, and wealth management.
"His incredible attention to detail and first principles have been pivotal in navigating difficult situations over the last few decades, such as the NBFC crisis, global financial meltdown, COVID-19 pandemic, etc. Uday’s ability to build a strong management team that embodies entrepreneurial energy has been instrumental in our success over these years," he said.
"Words cannot sufficiently express the institutional building that he has achieved. And this is exactly what we want to sustain – a preeminent institution that outlives generations!" he added.
Over the past 2 years, the bank has hired top-tier global talent in technology, customer experience, marketing, branding, and data and risk analytics.
Milind Nagnur, a professional with extensive experience at JP Morgan, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, has assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer. Bhavnish Lathia, who previously worked at Amazon in Seattle, has joined as the Chief of Customer Experience and Head of Technology.
Rohit Bhasin, a seasoned expert from FMCG giant Unilever, is the Head of Retail Liabilities Product and Chief Marketing Officer. Bhaskar Kumar, with a background spanning GE Capital, HSBC, and Bajaj Finserv, has taken on the position of Chief Risk Officer.
"These are, no doubt, ambitious goals, but we are not playing for the short term," he said.
Ashok Vaswani, new MD & CEO of Kotak Bank, believes that while transforming for scale, it is crucial to 'scale for relevance, not just for the sake of size'. "If you get it right by the customer, everything else will fall into place. If you don’t get it right by the customer, then nothing else matters," said Vaswani in his first address to shareholders.
Last year, Kotak Bank made a surprising move by appointing Vaswani, a global banker, as its new MD & CEO. Before exiting, the billionaire banker Kotak had put together a new strategy and a team to guide the bank's transformation into a tech-savvy institution by focusing on building customer excellence similar to e-commerce giant Amazon.
"We are deeply determined to get it right by our customers by understanding their needs and building appropriate propositions and thus being the right partner to them – which sometimes may even mean saying no," he said. "The credit goes to Uday Kotak, who has built this exceptional business."
Starting with bill discounting in the mid-1980s, Uday Kotak transformed his company from a small player in financial services into the Kotak Mahindra Group, a financial superhouse. In nearly four decades, the group has scaled up significant assets, loans, and market capitalisation. It boasts a diverse presence across financial segments, including banking, insurance, and wealth management.
"His incredible attention to detail and first principles have been pivotal in navigating difficult situations over the last few decades, such as the NBFC crisis, global financial meltdown, COVID-19 pandemic, etc. Uday’s ability to build a strong management team that embodies entrepreneurial energy has been instrumental in our success over these years," he said.
"Words cannot sufficiently express the institutional building that he has achieved. And this is exactly what we want to sustain – a preeminent institution that outlives generations!" he added.
Over the past 2 years, the bank has hired top-tier global talent in technology, customer experience, marketing, branding, and data and risk analytics.
Milind Nagnur, a professional with extensive experience at JP Morgan, Citibank, and Wells Fargo, has assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer. Bhavnish Lathia, who previously worked at Amazon in Seattle, has joined as the Chief of Customer Experience and Head of Technology.
Rohit Bhasin, a seasoned expert from FMCG giant Unilever, is the Head of Retail Liabilities Product and Chief Marketing Officer. Bhaskar Kumar, with a background spanning GE Capital, HSBC, and Bajaj Finserv, has taken on the position of Chief Risk Officer.
"These are, no doubt, ambitious goals, but we are not playing for the short term," he said.