RBI clears Shyam Srinivasan's reappointment as Federal Bank MD & CEO for 3 years

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 9 approved the reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Federal Bank for a period of three years.

The reappointment is with effect from September 23, 2021 till September 22, 2024. The bank received the approval on July 9, 2021, it said in a press release to exchanges.

Srinivasan took over as Federal Bank MD&CEO in 2010 and has been at the helm since then.

Srinivasan is among the few foreign bankers who chose to move to smaller Indian banks after fairly long, successful stints in foreign banks (the others include RBL Bank’s Vishwavir Ahuja and DCB Bank’s Murali Natrajan).

Over the last one decade, Srinivasan has been at the helm of Federal, the bank has transformed into a mid-sized private bank with strong focus on retail business, including gold loans and funding small and medium entrepreneurs.

Under Srinivasan, Federal Bank has emerged as a bank with a national focus.

In 2012, Federal Bank began de-bulking its book and in 2013, the lender stopped depending on bulk deposits. The bank has about 93-95 percent of the liability on the retail side now. Over the last seven, eight years, each passing year,

Srinivasan also brought in changes on the expansion strategy of the bank by focusing on digital channels instead of physical expansion.

“When I joined the bank, I added 600 branches in five years. In the last five and half years, I have added only 20 branches. In 2015, we stopped adding and our mantra became—branch light and distribution heavy. I believe branches should become more productive,” Srinivasan said in a recent interview with Moneycontrol.