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AU Small Finance Bank Clarifies On Recent Exits

AU Small Finance Bank says internal audit head's exit related to personal reasons.

<div class="paragraphs"><p>AU Small Finance Bank management at a press briefing</p></div>
AU Small Finance Bank management at a press briefing

AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. has clarified the reason for recent exits at the bank, which led to the stock dropping sharply on Tuesday.

According to an exchange notification from the bank, Sumit Dhir, the head of the bank's internal audit team, resigned due to personal reasons. While the bank's statement came after hours, the stock closed 12% down on reports of Dhir's resignation.

"Mr Sumit Dhir has expressed his desire to move back to his hometown Delhi due to changes in his personal circumstances following Covid second wave," the bank said. "He continues to be on our rolls as Head of Internal Audit and we remain in discussions with him for a possible retention."

  • The internal audit team has about 50 members and the bank has seven concurrent auditors, which have remained stable for four years.

  • On Aug. 29, AU Small Finance Bank disclosed that Alok Gupta would be leaving his role as chief risk officer, after he joined earlier this year.

  • Gupta resigned from his position in July, however, the bank only disclosed it last week.

  • Deepak Jain, the bank's chief operating officer, would take over as chief risk officer.

  • Nitin Gupta, who has been with the bank since 2015, resigned in March this year to eventually move to competitor Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd.

According to the notification, none of the other top 50 members of the bank's management have resigned.

"Some challenges remain around Jaipur location which we are addressing by scaling up Mumbai and other regional offices at key cities (like Delhi, Pune, Indore, Chandigarh etc)," the bank said.

The bank is also organising an investor call on Wednesday, which will be addressed by the managing director and chief executive officer, the chairman of the board and the chairman of the nomination and remuneration committee.