Krishnamurthy, MD & CEO of Catholic Syrian Bank, quits

Anand Krishnamurthy, managing director and chief executive of Catholic Syrian Bank, has resigned, a year after taking over the posts.

Calls to his office remained unanswered. Sources in the bank confirmed he had resigned last week due to financial performance over the last one year. The bank reported a loss of Rs 149.72 crore in 2015-16. Percentage of gross non-performing assets had shot up to 5.62 per cent and net NPAs to 4.40 per cent of total loans in 2015-16.

Before taking over in July 2015, Krishnamurthy had been associated with the bank for the past one year and was previously responsible for corporate banking, SME business, and integrated treasury operations as head of wholesale banking and treasury.

SME is small and medium-sized enterprises.

"The bank is in the process of looking for another chief executive. This time we are not going to look at people from our bank or from foreign banks. We will try to finalise the names soon," said a top official from the bank's board.

Both Krishnamurthy and Rakesh Bhatia, former managing director and chief executive, were from foreign bank HSBC. Bhatia had roped in other foreign bankers after joining.

Earlier, the Kerala-based bank was planning to raise around Rs 400 crore through initial public offering (IPO) of shares, but dropped the plan, and is talking to at least three private equity investors, including Fairfax, for raising funds. Sources said the lender had decided to clean up its balance sheet and improve its financial performance before going for an IPO. The Reserve Bank of India has been asking the lender to list on exchanges; the company is among the few commercial banks in the country yet to be listed.

The bank is one of India's oldest private sector banks, with headquarters in the Thrissur district of Kerala. For over nine decades, it remained a neighbourhood bank. The company has a strong base in Kerala, and a significant presence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.