ICICI Bank fostering compliance, strong risk culture: CEO Sandeep Bakhshi

ICICI Bank, the country’s second-largest private sector lender, is focusing on growing in a “prudent and responsible manner”, stated Sandeep Bakhshi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO), in the bank’s annual report for FY24. Additionally, Bakhshi emphasised that the bank is "fostering a strong risk and compliance culture" to ensure a balance of risk and rewards for achieving long-term sustainable outcomes.

“Driven by the principles of ‘One Bank, One Team’ along with ‘Fair to Customer, Fair to Bank’ and ‘Return of Capital’, our focus will be growing in a prudent and responsible manner”, said Bakhshi.

Bakhshi also highlighted that the bank is making continuous efforts to strengthen service digital capabilities and enhance delivery systems, underpinned by a focus on operational resilience, adding that the bank’s priority is to simplify banking for its customers and deliver a superior experience across all ecosystems, micro markets and customer segments.

“Our 360º customer-centric service approach is anchored on core values of trust, integrity and transparency”, Bakhshi said.

He also added that the bank is seeing exciting opportunities arising from the Indian economy and its global linkages and is committed to supporting the economy in its transformative journey.

The bank has been focusing on growing its profit before tax in a risk-calibrated approach, anchored by a 360º customer-centric approach and exploring opportunities across ecosystems and micro markets.

According to its annual report, in FY24, the bank’s profit before tax excluding treasury grew by 28.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 54,479 crore. The bank saw broad-based loan growth across segments with a growth of 16.8 per cent YoY in the domestic loan portfolio to Rs 11.5 trillion. “The bank continued to maintain its competitive advantage in the cost of funds while enhancing the liability franchise and maintaining a stable and healthy funding profile”, the annual report stated.

“Our focus remains on risk-calibrated profitable growth by maintaining high standards of governance, deepening our coverage and enhancing our delivery capabilities”, said Sandeep Batra, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, adding that the bank continues to cultivate a culture where every employee serves customers with humility and upholds the values of brand ICICI. “We aim to be a trusted financial services provider of choice for our customers and deliver consistent, predictable returns to our shareholders”, Batra said.

“Building trust-based long-term relationships with customers is core to our strategy for sustainable growth”, said Rakesh Jha, Executive Director, ICICI Bank.

According to Ajay Kumar Gupta, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, offering high-quality banking services with simplicity and reliability is the key priority of the bank.