Who is Ashok Vaswani, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s next MD, CEO?

Initially, Ashok Vaswani was CEO Citigroup Asia Pacific.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, today, said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the bank’s next Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD and CEO) following Uday Kotak’s resignation last month. Kotak was associated with the bank for 21 years.

Who is Ashok Vaswani?

Vaswani was initially a banker with Citigroup for a period of three and a half decades and more recently was associated with Barclays. He was the CEO of Barclays Bank, UK and subsequently CEO of their Global Consumer, Private, Corporate and Payments businesses and Member of the Group Executive Committee.

Earlier, he was CEO Citigroup Asia Pacific and Member of the Citigroup Global Operating & Management Committees. Currently, the newly-appointed member of Kotak Mahindra Bank, is the President of Pagaya Technologies Ltd - a US-Israeli AI Fintech. He is also on the Board of the London Stock Exchange Group, the SP Jain Institute of Global Management, UK and supports various philanthropic organisations, including Pratham, and Lend-A-Hand.

As part as his education is concerned, Vaswani pursued his Bachelor of Commerce, Economics and Accountancy from the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics (Bombay University). He is also a chartered accountant (CA) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

He also pursued a degree in Computer Science (CS) from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Executive Education from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Vaswani was born in India and is married to Veena with their daughter working in the USA.

While speaking about Vaswani, Uday Kotak, founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “Ashok is a word class leader and banker with digital and customer focus. I am proud that we bring a “Global Indian” home to build Kotak and India of tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Vaswani’s appointment is for a period of three years from the date of taking charge which shall not be later than January 1, 2024.