With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) clearing the name of Murali Ramakrishnan as the new managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of South Indian Bank, the Kerala-based bank will have a new chief from October 1.
On July 2, Moneycontrol first reported that Ramakrishnan is the frontrunner for the post. Ramakrishnan is a former senior executive at ICICI Bank, who was the chief executive of the private sector lender’s operations in North Asia, West Asia, Sri Lanka and Africa.
Ramakrishnan has already joined the bank as an adviser from July 1.
Ramakrishnan would be the first MD & CEO of South Indian Bank coming on-board from a private sector lender. In the past, the top bosses at South Indian Bank have joined from public sector lenders, chiefly State Bank of India.
"This appointment is different from the traditional selection process of a bank chief in South Indian bank. Till now, only a person with a state-run ban has been appointed. In a tight competitive scenario, bringing private sector experts to head operations, especially retail business, is key," said an insider.
Ramakrishnan will succeed VG Mathew whose term will expire on September 30,2020.
Ramakrishnan retired earlier this year from ICICI Bank after a tenure of more than two decades during which he handled a series of functions and businesses. As the chief executive of the North Asia (Hong Kong and China), Middle East, Sri Lanka and Africa regions, he managed a balance-sheet of around $20 billion, according to his Linkedin profile.
Prior to this, he was the head (credit risk), head (policy, risk and BIU) and also headed four business groups, namely cluster banking group, emerging clusters group, construction equipment finance and professional equipment finance. Prior to ICICI Bank, Ramakrishnan , an IIM-Bangalore alumni, worked with GE Capital Transportation Financial Services and SRF Finance
South Indian Bank, which is keen to expand its retail business and strengthen its SME base, reported a net loss of Rs 143.69 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020, due to a multi-fold jump in provisioning requirement. Its provisioning for bad loans and contingencies for the quarter jumped over three times to Rs 723.80 crore, against Rs 219.15 crore
As of September 2019, the bank had 870 branches, 53 extension counters and 1,406 ATMs.
According to its FY19 annual report, the bank said it was "now focusing on the growth of retail lending segment with a view to transforming the bank into a Retail Banking Power House by 2020. Accordingly, the thrust is given to retail loan products such as housing loan, vehicle loan, gold loan and MSME loans."
Private equity firm Chrys Capital's investment arm Lavender Investments holds 4.91 percent stake in the bank. Other investors include LIC, Polaris Capital Management and private equity firm Acacia Banyan Partners.
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