Kolkata:Partha Pratim Senguptais likely to assume charge as managing director and chief executive officer ofBandhan Bankon November 1, ending four months of leadership gap at the Kolkata-based universal bank having amicrofinancelegacy.. The immediate challenges for Sengupta would be to address the asset quality stress the lender has been facing, especially on its microfinance portfolio, and to contain the higher operational expenses, according to banking experts.. A few formalities are yet to be completed, but he will most probably take charge on November 1, two people in the know said. “If not, he will definitely join within the first week of November,” said another bank official.. Announcing the Reserve Bank of India’s approval for Sengupta’s appointment,Bandhan Bankhad on October 10 said that Sengupta would take charge no later than November 10.. RBI approved a three year term for the veteran banker from the date of his taking charge.. Bandhan Bank founding MD & CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh retired on July 9, following which executive director Ratan Kumar Kesh acted as the interim head to navigate the business.. Analysts expect a business strategy realignment under Sengupta, who carries a four decades of experience in the banking industry.. “We think the focus of the new CEO will be on strengthening the quality of Bandhan’s liability franchise and accelerating the reduction in the share of microfinance loans. This could normalize Bandhan’s ROA down overtime from the current level (about 2.4%) but also reduce overall business cyclicality,” JP Morgan said on Sengupta’s appointment.. According to people in the know, the bank may have seen higher slippages for the second quarter ending September 30 compared to the first quarter, especially due to the fresh stress in the microfinance sector. The bank is likely to announce its quarterly earnings on October 25.. The bank saw slippages of Rs 891 crore in the June quarter as compared with Rs 1017 crore in the preceding quarter which helped it to contain credit cost at 1.6% against 5.8% for the respective periods. Despite the lower credit cost, the bank had given a credit cost guidance of 1.8-2% for the year.. “Our operational expenses are higher than many other peer entities as we have more branches and higher total staff strength to man these branches. We may have to review this strategy,” a senior bank official said, in the condition of anonymity.. Bandhan in its first nine years of operations opened a whopping 1700 branches as compared to 955 of IDFC First Bank. Both Bandhan and IDFC Bank got the universal banking license in 2014.. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
