RBL Bank Appoints Jaideep Iyer as ED after Selling Majority Stake to Dubai's Emirates NBD

Private sector lender RBL Bank on Tuesday announced the appointmnet of Jaideep Uyer as its new Executive Director, effective February 21, 2026. Iyer will succeed will Rajeev Ahuja, who will retire upon completion of his current term in February.

The bank has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the appointment, which is subject to shareholder approval.

Separately, the board approved Deepak Ruiya’s appointment as interim chief financial officer from December 30, until a new CFO is named. Ruiya has been the bank’s deputy CFO since March 2023 and has been with the bank for the past 10 years.

Notably, the leadership changes come at a time when the lender is going through major ownership restructuring.

Dubai-based Emirates NBD has agreed to buy a majority stake in RBL Bank, in what would be the largest foreign acquisition in India’s financial sector so far. The open offer for existing shareholders was scheduled to run from December 12 to December 26.

Under the deal, Emirates NBD will acquire a 60% stake in RBL Bank through a mix of preferential allotment and an open offer. The open offer price has been set at ₹280 per share, as announced earlier by both Emirates NBD and RBL Bank.

The acquisition comes at a time when India’s banking and financial services sector is seeing growing foreign interest. While India allows up to 74% foreign ownership in private banks, a single foreign investor is normally capped at 15% unless the RBI grants special approval. Media reports indicate that the RBI has informally signalled its support for the Emirates NBD–RBL Bank transaction.

The proposal follows Japan’s SMBC acquiring a 24.2% stake in private sector Yes Bank and MUFG Bank announcing the is acquisition of a strategic 20% stake in Shriram Finance.