B Gopkumar, the managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Securities, has been named the new CEO of the top fund house Axis Mutual Fund by Axis Asset Management Company. Gopkumar succeeds Chandresh Nigam, who has resigned as the company’s CEO.

Nigam joined Axis AMC in July 2009 as head of equities and was appointed MD & CEO in May 2013, leading the fund house for two stints totaling ten years.

Chandresh Nigam will stay in office until April 30, 2023, the conclusion of his term. On May 1, 2023, B Gopkumar will take over for a three-year period.

The fund house has been troubled by the front-running scandal that surfaced when it suspended Viresh Joshi, its former chief dealer, after finding him guilty in an internal investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred Joshi and 19 others in a front-running case involving the fund house on February 28, 2023.

The market regulator claimed that it had determined that Rs 30.5 crore was the amount that had been improperly gained as a result of the alleged front-running actions and ordered that the entities hold the money in trust.

The Chief Investment Officer of Axis AMC, Ashish Gupta, has also joined the company. Axis MF’s investment teams are currently led by Jinesh Gopani, Head of Equities, and R. Sivakumar, Head of Fixed Income. Sivakumar and Gopani will now both answer Gupta. Gupta is a former head of India equity research at Credit Suisse, where he previously worked.

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