Kotak Bank, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank: Private lenders in action amid management rejig buzz at D-St

Shares of select private banks including Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Federal Bank were in action during the trading session on Monday amid the news of top management rejigging at them hogging the spotlight on the Dalal Street.

Kotak Mahindra Bank's joint MD Krishnan Venkat Subramanian (KVS) Manian resigned from his position with immediate effect. The board of the private lender has accepted Manian’s resignation, the bank told the exchanges in a regulatory filing. Manian was promoted to the position of joint MD effective March 1, 2024.

After the resignation, shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank continued to bleed and dropped another 4.4 per cent to Rs 1552.55, hitting its new 52-week lows. The total market captializaiton of lender, which settled at Rs 1623.75 on Tuesday, stood at Rs 3.1 lakh crore. Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank have tumbled about 16 per cent since RBI's orders.

Manian is said to be moving to Federal Bank, where CEO Shyam Srinivasan's term ends in September 2024. His resignation came days after Kotak Mahindra Bank was barred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from onboarding new customers online or issuing new credit cards.

Amid the market rumours related to Manian, shares of Federal Bank surged more than 4.76 per cent to Rs 170.25, hitting its new 52-week high and commanding a total market capitalization of more than 41,000 crore. The scrio had settled at Rs 162.50 in the previous trading session.

Another private sector lender, ICICI Bank was also in the focus, after some news portals suggested that its existing CEO and MD Sandeep Bakhshi may step down from his position. However, the lender dimissed the rumours through an exchange filing on the Thursday.

"We would like to categorically deny the information published in the article regarding ICICI Bank’s MD allegedly expressing willingness to leave his position due to personal reasons. This information is figment of imagination and completely baseless and misleading. It appears that this rumour is being spread with an ulterior motive and malicious intent in order to harm the bank," said the filing.

Shares of ICICI Bank remained flat at Rs 1155.50 on Thursday, against the private close of Rs 1152.05. It managed to hold the total market capitalization of around Rs 8.1 lakh crore for the day.