Paytm Payments Bank appoints former IDBI Bank executive Arun Bansal as new CEO

Paytm Payments Bank, an associate entity of One97 Communications (OCL), which operates the Paytm brand, has appointed Arun Kumar Bansal as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO). Bansal is a former IDBI Bank director.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved Bansal’s appointment as MD and CEO of the payments bank, he told IDBI Bank on June 20.

He resigned as Executive Director and Head of Finance (on contract basis) at IDBI Bank.

“I am pleased to inform you that RBI has approved my appointment as MD & CEO of Paytm Payment Bank. Accordingly, I hereby submit my resignation from (IDBI) Bank,” he said in his resignation letter.

Bansal added that since the payments bank’s former MD and CEO Surinder Chawla was set to retire from Paytm PB on June 26, he has applied for resignation from IDBI Bank before or on June 25.

Former Paytm PB Managing Director and CEO Surinder Chawla resigned in April citing personal reasons.

An emailed request for comment to the payments bank’s CEO did not elicit a response as of press time.

Bansal replaces Chawla as the new CEO of the payments bank as the company faces challenges due to regulatory restrictions.

Chawla’s resignation from the company came amid the departure of other top executives from the group following the RBI action.

Bhavesh Gupta, president and chief operating officer (COO) of Paytm, resigned from the company in May. Other exits include the resignation of Sumit Mathur, the company’s chief marketing officer, who left the company after a year in April.

In March, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma also stepped down as non-executive chairman of Paytm Payments Bank, leading to a reshuffle of the board.

Paytm Payments Bank has revamped its board by appointing former public sector officials and bankers.

The new set of independent directors on the board of Paytm PB includes former Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of Central Bank of India Srinivasan Sridhar, retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Debendranath Sarangi, former Executive Director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg and retired IAS Rajni Sekhri Sibal.

They had all joined as independent directors, OCL said in February.

First print: Jul 10, 2024 | 8:05 PM IST