The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of R Subramaniakumar as the managing director and CEO of RBL Bank for a period of three years.

Subramaniakumar was an administrator at Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) after the mortgage financier’s board was superseded. Under his charge, bankrupt DHFL achieved its resolution.

A banker with 40 years of experience, Subramaniakumar was also the MD and CEO of state-run Indian Overseas Bank until his retirement on 30 June 2019. 

“a meeting of the board of directors of the bank will be convened in due course upon the completion of requisite formalities, inter alia to approve the appointment of R Subramaniakumar as an additional director and as the MD & CEO of the bank and the approval of the shareholders shall be obtained thereafter as per the applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI Listing Regulations,” RBL Bank said in its regulatory filing.

Subramaniakumar will take charge at a time when RBL Bank reported a net loss of Rs 74.74 crore in FY22 versus a profit of Rs 50.77 crore in the year-ago period. 

RBL Bank had also come under the scanner of the regulator and on 25 December the RBI appointed its chief general manager Yogesh K Dayal as an additional director of the bank for two years.

Last year in December, RBL’s longtime MD & CEO Vishwavir Ahuja went on indefinite leave nearly six months ahead of the end of his tenure. Following his exit, the lender had appointed its executive director Rajeev Ahuja as interim MD & CEO of the bank.  

Subramaniakumar started his career with Punjab National Bank. He headed business transformation at PNB for three years and transformed several businesses including digital, human resource, MSME and retail, among others.