- HDFC Bank's legal firms filed a caveated report on Chakraborty's resignation statement review
- Chakraborty cited conflict between bank practices and personal values as reason for resignation
- Legal firms focused on compliance, ignoring broader issues raised by former chairman
The external legal firms appointed by HDFC Bank to review the resignation statement filed by former bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty have filed a very "caveated" report, focusing majorly on select excerpts from internal officials' interviews and minutes of the board meetings, Chakraborty told NDTV Profit in an interaction.
Chakraborty said his resignation was due to conflict between certain business practices at the bank and his personal values, and broadly a call for the board to introspect. The legal firms, he says, focused on the compliance aspect instead. HDFC Bank had appointed Wadia Gandhy and Wilson Soni for the review.
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The former chairman said his appointment and resignation were both in compliance with the companies act and banking regulation act. He said he repeatedly asked for the terms of reference or legal framework under which the lawyers were appointed for review. Despite repeated requests, the board did not share the terms with the former chairman. He termed the legal reports as "superfluous".
Chakraborty said the AT-1 bond mis-selling case occurred during his term, and the bank acted swiftly, taking multiple actions to course-correct. However, Chakraborty did not outline the specific business practices which led to his resignation, saying matters of the boardroom should remain within the room.
Bank to fasten chairman, CEO appointments
With legal firms giving positive feedback, the board of HDFC Bank is likely to speed up the appointments of a permanent chairman and re-appointment of incumbent MD, CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan, sources say.
The permanent chairman is likely to have a say in the bank recommending another term for the incumbent CEO to the RBI. HDFC Bank must act fast for the re-appointment, as the current CEO's term ends in October this year.
ALSO READ: HDFC Bank Part-Time Chairman Atanu Chakraborty Resigns, Cites Ethical Concerns
The RBI had last week approved another 90-day extension for HDFC Bank interim chairman Keki Mistry. NDTV Profit reported last week that HDFC Bank had begun the search process for a permanent chairman nearly two months ago and has since held a series of meetings with potential candidates.
The bank has conducted back-to-back interactions with shortlisted contenders and has now likely narrowed its focus to a handful of top candidates for the position. Mistry, sources say, is not keen on continuing as permanent chairman of the bank.
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