Interim Chief Risk Officer — Universal Bank Supervisory Reset

The mandate

The risk chief exited with immediate effect after a supervisory review identified weak evidence behind large-exposure overrides, overdue model validations and inconsistent operational-loss reporting. The deputy can preserve routine approvals, but the regulator and board require a visibly independent executive to reset the control environment.

The appointment is expected to commence within two weeks and last twelve months. The board will launch a permanent search after the first remediation submission, allowing the interim to shape the role specification without participating in candidate selection; overlap of up to eight weeks is planned at the close.

The assignment ends when every high-severity finding has an accepted closure pack, model inventory exceptions have fallen to the board tolerance, the next ICAAP has survived independent assurance, and the successor has completed the first quarterly risk cycle. A green programme dashboard alone will not count as handover.

The interim has sole authority to suspend delegated credit powers, demand second-line review, reject policy exceptions and commission independent validation inside the sanctioned risk budget. Changes to risk appetite, aggregate exposure above ₹500 crore, disposal of a stressed book and permanent Grade-A appointments remain matters for the Board Risk Committee; commercial targets cannot override these boundaries.

This is not a mandate to lead recoveries, redesign sales incentives or replace the core risk platform. Treasury strategy, legal conduct of litigation and day-to-day collections continue with their accountable executives, although their data must support the remediation.

Why this seat is open

An unexpected executive separation coincided with a time-bound supervisory response. Internal succession is not credible while several control owners are implicated in the findings. The board needs a neutral risk leader who can make difficult delegations, face the regulator and leave the permanent CRO an independently tested system.

What you will own

• Re-grade every supervisory finding by residual harm, accountable executive, evidence standard and non-negotiable closure date.
• Decide which credit delegations and policy waivers remain suspended until their underlying monitoring controls are independently verified.
• Sign the consolidated remediation submission and maintain a traceable index from each assertion to source evidence and committee approval.
• Commission model validations by portfolio risk and retire, constrain or remediate models that cannot meet the documented use test.
• Rebuild the Board Risk Committee pack around forward indicators, concentration movements, override behaviour and losses outside appetite.
• Convene monthly challenge sessions with business CEOs and record accepted risks, rejected mitigations and matters escalated for board decision.
• Deliver a successor dossier containing regulatory correspondence, appetite decisions, talent exposures, validation schedules and the next two committee calendars.

Candidate qualifications

• Served as CRO, deputy CRO or enterprise risk director in a large regulated Indian bank with direct Board Risk Committee exposure.
• Closed material supervisory findings and can show how evidence was tested before a closure representation was signed.
• Directed credit, market, liquidity, operational and model-risk leaders rather than specialising in only one risk class.
• Built or challenged ICAAP, stress-testing and risk-appetite frameworks for a balance sheet of comparable complexity.
• Exercised independence under commercial pressure, including withdrawal of delegations or rejection of senior exceptions.
• Understands Indian banking supervision, large-exposure requirements, outsourcing risk and the governance of expected-credit-loss models.

Non-negotiables

• Able to take regulatory and board accountability from Delhi NCR within fourteen days.
• Free of unresolved enforcement matters or recent employment with the bank's statutory auditor.
• Prepared to disclose all lender, fintech and stressed-asset board interests before interview.
• Will not combine this assignment with another executive or risk-committee chair role.

1. 49 words maximum. State your earliest start date and any regulatory fit-and-proper process that could affect it.
2. 49 words maximum. Name one supervisory finding you closed and the evidence that persuaded independent assurance to accept closure.
3. 49 words maximum. When have you withdrawn a profitable business's risk delegation, and what trigger supported that decision?