NEW DELHI: Kotak Mahindra Bank on Monday said veteran banker Ashok Vaswani has assumed charge as the managing director (MD) and CEO of the bank.

He replaced Dipak Gupta, who was the interim MD and CEO, following founder director Uday Kotak stepping down as the head of the bank, effective September 1, 2023.

“Ashok Vaswani has assumed the office as the Managing Director & CEO of the Bank, with effect from January 1, 2024,” Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October 2023 approved the appointment of Vaswani as the bank’s MD and CEO for a period of three years.

Like Uday Kotak, he is also an alumnus of the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. Vaswani is also a qualified chartered accountant and company secretary.

Vaswani had worked with Barclays in the recent past. Prior to this, Vaswani was the president of Pagaya Technologies Ltd - a US-Israeli AI Fintech player.

He has a proven track record spanning three-and-a-half decades, initially at Citigroup and more recently at Barclays.