CHANDA ON LEAVE TILL PROBE WINDS UP

MUMBAI: The managing director and chief executive officer of the ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, will remain on leave till the completion of an internal enquiry instituted by the bank.

In another development, the ICICI Bank has appointed Sandeep Bakshi as the chief operating officer.

Though Kochhar will continue in her role as MD and CEO but during her period of leave, Bakshi will report to the board.

His appointment as COO will be for a period of five years, subject to regulatory approvals. He will be responsible for handling all the businesses and corporate centre functions at the bank.

Bakhshi is the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Prior to this, he was the Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. Bakhshi has also been the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance.

The board last month constituted an independent internal probe panel headed by former judge BN Srikrishna to look into Kochhar's alleged conflict of interest and violation of lenders code of conduct in giving a loan of Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon group in 2012.

The board pushed for an enquiry in this matter after Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a show cause notice to ICICI Bank and Kochhar in May. Kochhar began her career with the ICICI Limited in 1984 and was elevated to the board of directors of ICICI Bank in the year 2001.