DHFL administrator R Subramaniakumar is RBL Bank chief

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared the appointment of R Subramaniakumar as managing director and chief executive officer of RBL Bank for a period of three years, the lender said on Saturday. Subramaniakumar has earlier overseen the insolvency process of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) in his capacity as administrator.

“Please note that a meeting of the board of directors of the bank will be convened in due course upon the completion of requisite formalities, inter alia to approve the appointment of Mr R Subramaniakumar as an additional director and as the managing director & CEO of the bank and the approval of the shareholders shall be obtained thereafter as per the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and Sebi listing regulations,” RBL Bank said in a communication to the exchanges.

The bank received the communication approving Subramaniakumar’s appointment from the RBI on Friday. Subramaniakumar has 40 years of experience as a banker. He started his career at Punjab National Bank (PNB) in 1980 and went on to head business transformation at the bank for three years. He was later appointed executive director at Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). He also held the position of MD & CEO of IOB. He is currently an independent director on the board of LIC Pension Fund.

At present, RBL Bank is being led by interim MD & CEO Rajeev Ahuja. In December, the bank’s board had constituted a search committee to identify a new CEO. The change in guard was necessitated by the bank’s former CEO Vishwavir Ahuja going on leave on December 25 after the RBI appointed its executive Yogesh Dayal to the bank’s board as an additional director. Vishwavir Ahuja went on leave roughly six months ahead of the end of his tenure.