Chief Executive Officer — Retail Bank

The mandate

A listed retail bank is undertaking a board-led transformation of its operating model. The board has created one CEO seat to own the reset from proposition through recovery, building a sustainable franchise anchored in disciplined origination, risk-based pricing and cohort-level portfolio management.

The Chief Executive Officer will oversee approximately ₹48,950 crore in loans and deposits and lead about 450 employees and material partners. The remit spans product, distribution, credit economics, service, collections, technology priorities, capital allocation and leadership. Independent risk and control functions retain their mandates; the CEO owns the quality of first-line choices and the complete business outcome.

The immediate task is to establish risk-adjusted economics by product, vintage, channel and customer cohort. Acquisition, funding, expected and realised loss, servicing, complaints and collections must connect. The CEO will decide where underwriting, pricing or limits should change, which channels deserve investment and which apparently growing propositions should pause.

Collections are part of the customer and economic model. Early-warning, hardship, cure, recovery and partner conduct need common ownership. A blunt credit contraction could protect near-term ratios while damaging the bank’s strongest segments, so the reset must distinguish temporary stress from structural weakness.

Capital should follow demonstrated advantage. The appointee will simplify governance, make downside visible and build a leadership team able to act before variance becomes a board surprise. Enterprise value, cash conversion and leadership credibility matter more than headline origination.

Deposit behaviour, technology priorities and partner exposure also belong in the reset. The CEO must distinguish durable balances from rate-sensitive funding, connect customer complaints and hardship to product choices, and ensure outsourced origination or servicing remains visible to the first line. Board reporting should separate management action from economic movement, state ranges around loss and liquidity assumptions, and identify the next decision before a threshold is breached. Investment should target underwriting evidence, early warning, service and collections rather than a broad modernisation label. Partner contracts need customer-outcome data, audit rights and practical exit. The leadership system must reward early escalation and sustained cohort value, not a closing-period growth figure.

Why this seat is open

This urgent new role replaces distributed ownership during asset-quality pressure. A six-to-eight-week shortlist-to-offer process is planned. Interim governance protects current decisions but cannot set the portfolio and leadership model.

What you will own

• Recut retail strategy around risk-adjusted customer, product, vintage and channel economics.
• Steward ₹48,950 crore of loans and deposits, capital, liquidity and forecasts.
• Reset origination, pricing, limit and channel investment decisions.
• Integrate service, hardship, collections and recovery into portfolio management.
• Simplify products and exceptions whose economics or customer outcomes cannot be defended.
• Lead 450 employees and partners with explicit business and journey accountability.
• Give the board early downside, corrective options and transparent capital consequences.
• Build succession across product, distribution, operations and collections leadership.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, reconcile book performance by vintage, source and segment. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to the reset, including customers represented through evidence, branch and digital leaders, collections, finance and risk. Review the largest approval and pricing exceptions, assess leadership and stabilise material asset-quality exposure. Agree board gates for renewed growth and capital.

Months four to nine should implement product, channel, pricing and collections choices. Fill leadership gaps, remove unsupported exceptions and redirect capacity towards priority cohorts. The first value should appear through improved early-arrears performance, pricing, cure, cash or avoided loss without unacceptable customer harm.

By year end, enterprise value, cash conversion and leadership credibility should show repeatable improvement. Delivery must remain within 10% of the approved case, and forecasts should reconcile book, cash, customer and people assumptions across three quarters. Priority risks require independently evidenced closure; severe escalations cannot remain unresolved beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Risk-adjusted contribution and asset quality by vintage, source and customer segment.
• Pricing, approval and limit exceptions reduced or brought under dated governance.
• Cure, recovery, complaints and customer outcomes through collections.
• Capital and funding allocated to propositions that meet evidence gates.
• Retention above 90% for critical talent and ready-now cover for 70% of direct reports.
• Quantified improvement in the portfolio constraint, supported by named data ownership.

The person

You are a CEO, Retail Bank Head or substantial consumer-banking executive with 28 or more years in regulated banking or an adjacent lending enterprise. You have owned asset quality and profitability across favourable and stressed periods.

Your directly accountable P&L, loan book, deposits, budget or portfolio has been at least ₹28,400 crore, and you have led 450 or more people. You can evidence a portfolio reset whose loss, customer and value outcomes held for at least two reporting periods.

You can challenge growth, credit and collections leaders without displacing independent risk. You communicate downside plainly, stop weak activity early and preserve investment in customers and capabilities that remain strategically sound.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹5.0–7.5 crore plus performance variable and LTI. The permanent Mumbai role follows a hybrid pattern and can accommodate notice of up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank and review findings will be disclosed only after fit and confidentiality are established. Figures and circumstances are composite.