Bank of Baroda’s (BOB) digital lending head, Akhil Handa, a technologist directly involved in the development of the mobile banking application ‘bob World’, has stepped down from his position. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed restrictions on the bank to onboard new customers on ‘bob World’ due to supervisory concerns.
Supervisory concerns regarding the way in which the public sector lender onboards new clients on ‘bob World’ have prompted the Reserve Bank of India to impose restrictions on the lender.
In addition to his responsibilities as head of digital channels and operations, BOB stated in a late-night exchange filing that Kadgatoor Sheetal Venkatesmurt will take up this responsibility.
As a member of the Corporate Leadership Team, he joined the bank in 2015 and has been in charge of Bank of Baroda’s strategy digital direction. As the bank’s Chief Digital Officer, Akhil has been in charge of the P&L ownership and digital transformation across all business divisions.
In addition to managing the BOB Innovation Centre, he was in charge of the digital payments, digital assets, digital product engineering, digital platforms (Retail, SME, Agri), and digital channels (Mobile, Internet, Tablet, and WhatsApp banking).
“As I embark on a new journey, today 31.10.23 marks the end of my journey at Bank of Baroda, and I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to my incredible colleagues for the incredible support and camaraderie during my time here”, stated Akhil Handa in a heartwarming LinkedIn post.
He further added, “especially grateful to our Chairman Ravi Venkatesan and Dr Hasmukh Adhia, MD & CEO’s, Sanjiv Chadha and P.S. Jayakumar, and all the Executive Directors who have mentored me and for the opportunities they provided me during my tenure. Their leadership and vision have been inspiring.”
“While the decision to move on was made long time ago, I had to wait until my transition period completion to make this announcement. Your support, encouragement, and collaboration have been invaluable throughout this period”, he said.
