India's Kotak Mahindra Bank names new senior executives

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Kotak Mahindra Bank on Monday named KVS Manian as joint managing director and Shanti Ekambaram as deputy managing director, effective March 1.

Both Manian and Ekambaram have been with Kotak for more than two decades and were last serving as whole-time directors.

Manian will oversee wholesale bank, commercial bank, private banking, asset reconstruction division and wholesale credit, while Ekambaram will drive treasury and global markets businesses in addition to her existing portfolio, the bank said in a statement.

The appointments come as multiple local media reports had said Manian was short-listed as a CEO candidate for Federal Bank.

In September, billionaire Uday Kotak, who founded Kotak Mahindra Bank, resigned as managing director and CEO four months before his term was set to end.

Manian and Ekambaram were among the top runners to replace Uday Kotak but the role went to veteran banker Ashok Vaswani.

Meanwhile, the lender also named Devang Gheewalla as president and group chief financial officer, effective April 1.

Kotak's shares closed down marginally at 1,731.40 rupees on Monday. They had risen 4.4% in 2023, underperforming a 12.4% gain in the Nifty bank index.

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)