Bank of Baroda, UBI, others running without chiefs for months

MUMBAI: Several public sector banks including Bank of Baroda, United Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank are running without a chief for months. Syndicate Bank, too, does not have a chairman and managing director after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested SK Jain for allegedly accepting bribe for enhancing credit limits for companies. The bank sacked Jain last week.

Senior bank executives said that the government must expedite the process of appointing CMDs at the earliest. The total business handled by these government banks would be over ` 20 lakh crore. “These banks are running headless at a very crucial juncture. With the new government coming in, the focus is on them to open crores of new zero-balance accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana... this programme

GOVT IS LOOKING TO PUT IN PLACE NEW MECHANISMS, WHICH WOULD BRING IN MORE TRANSPARENCY IN THE SELECTION PROCESS.

needs constant monitoring,” a senior official at a public sector bank told HT.

A finance ministry official said that the appointment process of the government bank chiefs is underway, adding that it will go through serious scrutiny.

The Cabinet’s appointments committee will have to lay down the reasons for selection and rejection of applicants in reports. Besides, past record and credentials apart from performance will also be given more weight. “The appointments committee would be required to give reasons as to why a particular candidate has got the score that he would and reasons

selection and otherwise,” the ministry official said.

For the banking industry, the going has not been easy with the level of non-performing assets rising and number of frauds coming into the fore. Archana Bhargava, who was chairperson and MD of United Bank of India, quit in February and the post has been lying vacant since then. SS Mundra, who was BoB-chief joined RBI as deputy governor in August. BoB, too, has been running without a CMD for two months now.

The banking trade unions have demanded that at least one executive director among the senior management should be appointed from the same bank to ensure continuity to avoid such scenarios.

“We have suggested that at least one ED be appointed from the same bank so that the entire board in not new to set up,” Ashwani Rana, general secretary, National Organisation of Bank Workers said.