PN Vasudevan resigns as MD & CEO of Equitas Small Finance Bank

PN Vasudevan, MD & CEO, Equitas Small Finance Bank

Veteran banker P N Vasudevan has resigned as the managing director and chief executive officer Equitas Small Finance Bank, the lender informed the stock exchanges on May 19.

Vasudevan, in his resignation letter, said he wants to devote his time towards social welfare through his public charitable trust.

The bank's board, in a meeting held earlier today, accepted his resignation letter and expressed "deep appreciation of the contribution made by Vasudevan over the years".

Vasudevan, however, would continue as the MD & CEO of the lender till his successor is finalised. The board would be forming a searching committee to undertake the process of finding his replacement, Equitas said in the regulatory filing.

"Post the transition, the board desires that he (Vasudevan) may be associated with the bank in any other capacity, as permissible under applicable statute and regulations," it added.

Vasudevan, notably, is the founder of Equitas and has been associated with its journey as a micro finance institution dating back to 2007. The entity was converted into a bank, under his leadership, in 2016.

"We started Equitas in 2007 with the passion to create the most Fair & Transparent organisation to all its stakeholders...I am proud to say that we have created an organisation where fairness is a value which has seeped right to the last employee in the bank. Our Governance standards are a benchmark and I am confident in saying that everyone of our stakeholder rates us very high on governance," Vasudevan said in his resignation letter.

"On performance, our bank has had its share of uneven financial results due to two events in the last 5 years viz. demonetisation (impacting micro finance in a few states) and Covid," he added, while noting that the future looks bright for the bank.

"With a focused approach of reducing our unsecured loan book (it is now down to about 18 percent from about 53 percent when we became a bank in 2016), head start in building a moat around lending to borrowers from the informal sector, a strong liability franchise, reducing cost of funds, adoption of digital for sourcing clients and a strong sense of compliance and risk management not just at the control functions, but also at the business functions, I am confident the bank is poised for its best, over the coming years," the letter stated.