The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 17 approved the extension of the term of Rajeev Ahuja, interim Managing Director & CEO of RBL Bank for a further period of three more months with effect from March 25, 2022, or till the appointment of a regular MD & CEO, whichever is earlier, RBL Bank said in an exchange filing.
Ahuja was appointed as the interim MD & CEO of the bank on December 25 after the abrupt exit of the former chief of the bank Vishwavir Ahuja. Further, the RBI had appointed an additional director on the Board of the bank in an unusual move.
In his first press conference post-appointment as interim MD & CEO of the bank, Rajeev Ahuja tried to allay fears over the bank’s asset quality and liquidity position. He said that the bank was sitting on a cash surplus of Rs 15,000 crore and stressed that the asset quality has improved over quarters and now looks stable. The bank was in the process of rebalancing the loan book and cutting down the risky unsecured lending book, he added.
However, as rumours spread around the bank’s financial health, the RBI issued a statement on December 27 saying there was no need for depositors and other stakeholders to react to the speculative reports as the bank’s financial health remains stable.
“The Reserve Bank would like to state that the bank is well capitalised and the financial position of the bank remains satisfactory. As per half-yearly audited results as of September 30, 2021, the bank has maintained a comfortable Capital Adequacy Ratio of 16.33 percent and Provision Coverage Ratio of 76.6 percent. The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) of the bank is 153 percent as on December 24, 2021, as against the regulatory requirement of 100 percent,” the regulator had said.
During the quarter ended December, RBL Bank’s net profit rose five fold to Rs 156 crore. The lender’s total deposits, however, fell 3% sequentially to Rs 73,639 crore. Further, as of December 31, RBL Bank’s gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio stood at 4.84% as against 5.40% the previous quarter, while the net NPA ratio improved to 1.85% from 2.14%.
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