Fino Payments Bank’s Compliance Officer Aashish Pathak Quits
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Amid an extended period of leadership turmoil, Fino Payments Bank’s chief compliance officer (CCO), principal officer and principal node officer Aashish Pathak has put down his papers.
In a regulatory filing, the bank said Pathak tendered his resignation on March 13 citing personal reasons. Today was his last working day.
Pathak was part of the senior management team and handled compliance and regulatory functions. He joined Fino as senior vice president in 2023 after a near five year stint at ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services.
His exit comes at a time when the payments bank is dealing with a leadership crisis and heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Last month, the Hyderabad unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) arrested MD and CEO Rishi Gupta in connection with an alleged ₹840 Cr GST evasion case linked to online betting platforms. The agency accused Gupta of being part of a syndicate that routed funds through shell entities and programme managers.
Fino, however, has maintained that the probe is unrelated to the bank’s own GST compliance. The bank has claimed to have a strong compliance framework in place.
“… The Bank wishes to inform that we have strong corporate governance, compliance framework and robust processes in place. As a regulated entity, we are compliant with all the laws, including GST,” the bank had said in a statement following Gupta’s arrest.
Following the arrest, the bank appointed its CFO Ketan Merchant as interim CEO and constituted a committee of senior executives and board members to oversee day-to-day operations.
Gupta has since been granted bail by the court. However, Fino’s board has deferred seeking Gupta’s reappointment as CEO as of now. The bank said it will revisit the decision after a reassessment of Gupta’s ‘fit and proper’ status by its nomination and remuneration committee, and after the RBI takes a view on the matter.
Notably, the RBI had approved his reappointment as recently as January.
The developments come even as Fino is in the middle of a strategic transition. In December, the RBI had granted in-principle approval for the payments bank to convert into a small finance bank (SFB). The bank has said it remains focused on this transition despite the ongoing disruptions.
On the market front, Fino Payments Bank’s stock remained under sharp pressure last week, emerging as the worst performer among new-age tech stocks. The shares fell 15.81% over the week to close at ₹127.
They further declined 7.13% to ₹117.95 on BSE today.
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