Ten months after announcing Zubair Iqbal’s appointment as first full-fledged Managing Director (MD) of J&K Bank, the Jammu and Kashmir government in a surprising move has now withdrawn his nomination before Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
“Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015, we wish to intimate that Zubair Iqbal, Govt. nominee Director (DIN:08742685) has ceased to be the Director of the Board of Bank consequent upon withdrawal of his nomination by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir,” reads an official document.
In May 2020 J&K administration appointed Zubair as a full-fledged first Managing Director of J&K Bank after a rigorous process of selection overseen by a high level 3 member committee under chairmanship of Tapan Ray, Ex Union Corporate Affairs Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, J&K, Anand Madhukar, OSD in Deptt of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, (GoI).
The appointment was made following the government’s decision to bifurcate the posts of Chairman and Managing Director of J&K. Currently, RK Chibber is the Chairman cum Managing Director of J&K Bank.
Earlier, Zubair had served J&K Bank for 15 years in different critical assignments and was Heading Marketing & Research Cell at the time of switching to HDFC bank in the year 2004. After serving HDFC bank for about 16 years, he joined J&K bank as Managing Director in May. On 17 May Board of Directors passed a resolution appointing Zubair as a Managing Director for 3 years and was advised to join immediately. Subsequently he resigned from HDFC on May 16 and joined JK Bank as the Managing Director on May 18, 2019. But the Reserve Bank of India didn’t give its nod to Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision.