New Delhi, July 1 -- On 27 June, Kotak Mahindra Bank informed stock exchanges that its managing director and chief executive officer, Ashok Vaswani, would not seek reappointment after completing his three-year term in December 2026.

Although the announcement came was unexpected, Vaswani's continuation was never a certainty. Ever since he stepped into the large shoes of founder Uday Kotak in January 2024, his tenure has been defined by regulatory setbacks, slowing profitability despite healthy balance-sheet growth, elevated employee attrition, muted shareholder returns and the continuing shadow of the bank's promoter.

It was Uday Kotak who formed Kotak Mahindra Finance back in 1985 and built it into a leading non-banking finance company ...