Anup Bagchi to take over as MD & CEO of ICICI Pru Life Insurance in June

Private sector life insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance will see a change of guard as N S Kannan, the current managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO), will superannuate from his services after the completion of his term in June 2023. Anup Bagchi, presently serving as executive director of ICICI Bank, will succeed him after that as the MD & CEO of the company for five years, with effect from June 19, 2023, subject to the approval of the insurance regulator.

Further, to ensure a seamless transition, Bagchi has been appointed executive director & chief operating officer effective May 1, 2023, subject to requisite approvals.

In an exchange notification, the insurer said, "…we wish to inform you that based on the recommendation of the board nomination and remuneration committee (BNRC), the board of directors of the company at their meeting held today, noted that N. S. Kannan, MD & CEO, will superannuate from the services of the company on the completion of tenure of his appointment on June 18, 2023".

The exchange notification also noted that the board of the insurer has, based on the recommendation of BNRC, inter-alia, approved ….. "The appointment of Anup Bagchi, presently Executive Director, ICICI Bank and Non-executive Director of the company, as the MD & CEO of the company for a period of five consecutive years with effect from June 19, 2023 or the date of regulatory approval(s), whichever is later and to ensure a seamless transition, the appointment of Bagchi as the Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of the Company with effect from May 1, 2023 subject to regulatory approval".

Bagchi has been serving as the ED of ICICI Bank, the parent organisation of ICICI Bank, since 2017. At present, he heads the bank's wholesale banking, transaction banking, markets group, and proprietary trading group departments. Previously, he has worked in retail banking, treasury, investment banking, small-scale industry, payment and settlement systems. Bagchi joined the ICICI group in 1992 and has over three decades of experience in the financial services industry.

Bagchi will take over the reins from Kannan, who has been with the ICICI group for over three decades. He has worked in various roles, including MD&CEO of ICICI Prudential Life and ED of ICICI Bank. Kannan has been at the helm of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance since June 2018. Kannan, 58, successfully steered the company through various challenges, including the more recent Covid-19 pandemic, to build ICICI Prudential Life as a resilient and well-diversified franchise.

“We believe he (Bagchi) is a good successor to Kannan. While Kannan did face the challenge of growing premiums during his tenure, we appreciate his dogged focus on value of new business (VNB) margins and VNB growth. ICICI Prudential Life delivered a 15-16 per cent VNB CAGR during his five year tenure driven by doubling of margins from 16 per cent to 32 per cent. However, growth has come from margins rather than annualised premium equivalent (APE) growth. The five-year APE CAGR during his tenure has been flat manly due to significant reduction in ICICI Bank channel to APE contribution now down to 15 per cent from 50 per cent in the past”, said Suresh Ganapathy, Associate Director, Macquarie Capital.

“The biggest challenge for Bagchi is to drive APE growth for ICICI Prudential Life, which has been a challenge for Kannan. The subdued valuations currently for ICICI Prudential Life despite a decent VNB growth is because of weak APE growth as investors believe that VNB growth driven by margins is unsustainable beyond a certain point”, he added.

Shares of the insurer are trading 5 per cent higher at Rs 404.45 on the BSE post the announcement made by the company.

The age of superannuation at ICICI Bank and its group companies is 58.