Kotak Mahindra Bank shares in focus as joint MD KVS Manian resigns

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd (KMB) will be in focus on Thursday morning after its joint MD Krishnan Venkat Subramanian (KVS) Manian resigned from his position with immediate effect. The board of private lender has accepted Manian’s resignation,  the bank told the exchanges in a regulatory filing. Manian, who was a whole-time director at the bank, got promoted to the position of joint MD effective March 1, 2024, after the bank appointed new MD and CEO Ashok Vaswani.

His resignation came days after Kotak Mahindra Bank was barred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from onboarding new customers online or issuing new credit cards. The stock is down 11 per cent in the last five days.  In pre-open trade, shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were trading 0.79 per cent lower at Rs 1,611 on BSE.

Nomura India said there will be a reputational impact on Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd post the RBI move. It would watch out for how the matter resolves itself, especially considering the strongly worded nature of RBI’s press release, the brokerage said.

In his resignation, Manian said he was exploring other opportunities in the financial sector.

"The variety of assignments handled during my career with the company have enriched me as a professional. I was truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with colleagues with brilliant minds and unlimited passion to imagine and achieve things that are out of the ordinary. There are just too many of such people to be named in such a short letter," he said.

Manian said he had a short stint working with CEO Ashok Vaswani but believes the path ahead for the bank "is truly transformational."