Equitas Small Finance Bank shares crashed 15% on October 30, extending their two-day fall to 35% after its longtime CEO P N Vasudevan said he would resign amid conflict-of-interest concerns as his daughter runs a non-banking finance company.
Vasudevan, who has led the lender as managing director and CEO for over a decade, said in his resignation letter that investors had repeatedly raised the issue and that it was weighing on the stock. Vasudevan has led Equitas since it started off as a microfinance institution in 2007 and oversaw its conversion to a small finance bank in 2016.
A small finance bank is a lender that provides basic banking and credit services to underserved segments.
At 10:10 am on October 30, Equitas SFB shares were trading 15% lower at Rs 48.5 apiece.
Vasudevan's daughter, Varshini Vasudevan Pathangi, founded Unico Housing Finance, an unlisted non-banking finance company, in 2023.