From Axis to Bandhan: The critical career choice of  Bandhan Bank's interim CEO Ratan Kumar Kesh

The current MD & CEO and founder Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has decided to retire, although the board had sent his nomination to the Reserve Bank of India earlier for an additional three-year term.

Ratan Kumar Kesh faced two choices when the offer to join Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank as Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer came his way. At the time, he was doing well at the Mumbai-headquartered Axis Bank, where he joined in 2019 as part of new MD & CEO Amitabh Chaudhry's team to drive bank-wide operational transformation across all business lines. In the last few years, the transformation had placed Axis Bank on a strong footing, and Kesh’s work was highly valued by Chaudhry.

The second choice was a micro financed turned full scale bank in his home state, which has made a significant impact at the grassroots level and aspired to become a universal bank. This mechanical engineer from Durgapur thought that if he could contribute to Bandhan Bank’s journey and make a difference to his home state and its people, as well as across India, it would be a fulfilling career.

With almost three decades of experience at ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, and Axis Bank, Kesh decided to embrace the challenges at Bandhan Bank and head for his home state.

As Kesh steps into the role of interim CEO following Ghosh's departure, many are speculating whether he might become the top choice for the permanent CEO position. The current interim MD & CEO appointment from July 10 is only for three months. The current MD & CEO and founder of the bank Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has decided to retire, although the board had sent his nomination to the Reserve Bank of India for an additional three-year term.

Kesh was hired as COO in March 2023 to build the architecture for technology, operations, and processes, transforming the bank into a universal bank.

His role involved fixing all controls, compliance, and risk management frameworks while delivering a customer experience aligned with becoming a universal bank, without losing the spirit of being a high-impact organization making significant impact at the grassroots level.

"So, one has to retain that essence while becoming a universal bank, unlike large banks that primarily serve the affluent and salaried segment. This is a very unique combination, which was quite exciting for me," Kesh told BT in an interaction last month.

When Kesh joined, the bank had already embarked on a large-scale core banking transformation journey that started two years ago. This level of migration is unprecedented in the industry, as it involves not only upgrading the core banking system but also transitioning from a bank-in-a-box FIS system to a completely new Oracle-based system.

Moreover, the transformation includes migrating internet banking, mobile banking, debit cards, treasury, and 16 surround systems. With 3.3 crore customers and a vast number of transactions, this is a significant undertaking.

In the last one year, Kesh has been part of the bank's new strategic plan for the next three years, involving all business units. The new strategy focuses on increasing the share of secured assets while maintaining a balance between portfolio quality and returns. Currently, the bank's portfolio is 57.4% unsecured and 42.6% secured. The plan is to achieve a 50:50 ratio by FY26.

There are also set growth targets. The bank as a whole will continue to grow at 18%. The microfinance segment will grow at a slightly lower rate of 14-15 per cent, meaning other segments (housing, two-wheeler, auto, commercial vehicle, and gold loans) will need to grow faster to achieve the overall growth target. The bank is also diversifying its book to include commercial banking (SME), corporate banking, housing finance including higher-yielding affordable housing, commercial vehicle loans, car loans, two-wheeler loans, four-wheeler loans, gold loans, etc. It aims to offer affluent products like priority cards, lounge access, and salaried accounts. In the corporate vertical, it is targeting transactional banking for fee income.