Chanda Kochhar set to be new ICICI CEO

The governance committee of the bank, which met on Thursday, is understood to have recommended Ms Kochhar to the board. Her appointment will be taken up by the board in its meeting on Friday. This could well signal the end of a chapter, not only in India’s second largest bank, but also in the banking industry. The bank’s board was to have finalised the new chief executive in its last meeting on November 22. However, this was postponed because of a turbulent market. Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, was shortlisted along with Ms Kochhar for the top job. There has also been speculation that the bank may go in for some kind of restructuring. With the intermediate holding company structure being shelved, one of the options is a demerger of non-banking businesses like insurance and asset management into an independent holding company.