HFFC Life Managing Director Amitabh Chaudhry will take over as Axis Bank’s managing director and chief executive officer for a three-year term. The 54-year-old’s appointment follows months of speculation after he offloaded HDFC Life shares worth Rs 55.77 crore between April and August this year.

Axis Bank’s current managing director Shikha Sharma’s term will end in December after concerns about an increase in bad loans.

Axis Bank issued a notification to the exchanges about his appointment. “We wish to inform you that the board of directors of the bank at its meeting held on Saturday has taken on record the approval granted by the Reserve Bank of India to the appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as the managing director and chief executive officer of the Bank, for a period of three years, with effect from January 1, 2019, up to December 31, 2021, (both days inclusive) and the terms and conditions relating to the said appointment, including remuneration,” Axis Bank said in a notification.

The lender had appointed international leadership search company Egon Zehnder to search for a replacement for Sharma. “A meeting of the board will be convened in due course to inter alia, approve the appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as an additional director of the bank and as the managing director and CEO,” the notification added.

In April, the Axis Bank board had accepted chief executive officer Shikha Sharma’s request to reduce her new term from three years to seven months, PTI reported. The Reserve Bank of India had asked the bank to reconsider its decision to reappoint Sharma for a fourth term, amid concerns about rising bad loans at the bank, Mint reported last week.