In a May 25, 2025 article on The Wire regarding the conduct of the then CEO and ED, Hemindra Hazari, a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered independent analyst, wrote, “Karnataka Bank’s experiment of hiring top executive leadership from outside the bank has been far from successful. Profits and profitability have steadily declined, while corporate governance at the highest executive level has deteriorated sharply. The bank’s CEO and ED are exceeding their delegated authority in open defiance of the board of directors.”
“No institution can retain executives when such information is public, as doing so would signal to staff and the wider public that exceeding one’s authority and defying superiors will be tolerated. Once auditors flag such misconduct, no institution – and certainly no bank – can allow those executives to remain in office. The auditors’ comment has sealed the fate of Karnataka Bank’s whole-time directors. The CEO and ED have no place in any boardroom because they have shown no respect for higher authority and have lost the board’s confidence,” Hazari wrote.
