The Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE: IBN) at its meeting held at Mumbai today approved the appointment of Mr. M. K. Sharma as the non-executive Chairman of the Board for a period of five years, in place of Mr. K. V. Kamath who would shortly step down from the Board consequent to his nomination as the first President of the New Development Bank being established by the BRICS nations. The appointment of the new non-executive Chairman is subject to the prior approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and would be effective July 1, 2015 or the date of receipt of RBI approval, whichever is later.
Mr. M. K. Sharma was formerly the Vice Chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited. He is an independent director of several leading companies and has been a member of Government committees relating to corporate law and corporate governance. He was an independent Director on the Board of ICICI Bank for eight years from 2003 to 2011. He is currently an independent Director of two subsidiaries of the Bank, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company. The Board felt that Mr. Sharma’s long experience & expertise in legal & corporate governance matters as well as companies in diverse businesses would prove invaluable in providing guidance & leadership to the Board, and his long association with the ICICI Group would provide stability & continuity.
The Board congratulated Mr. Kamath on his new role and placed on record its deep appreciation of his outstanding contribution to the ICICI Group, as the Chairman of the Board of ICICI Bank since 2009 and as the CEO prior to the same.