‘Scrapping Banks Board Bureau not on cards; PSBs’ leadership development strategy in motion’

In the past, the government has at times overlooked the suggestions of the Bureau in key appointments. The finance ministry official said given the challenging times being faced by the state-owned banks, it is not advisable to scrap the BBB, which has been assisting the government in banking reforms. “There are no plans to scrap the Bureau, which is working on appointing an advisory firm that will help prepare a leadership pipeline for top positions in the banks,” the official said.

The BBB has in the process of appointing a knowledge partner that will help it design, implement and institutionalise a flagship leadership development strategy. It is also planning to appoint an advisory firm to “assess the leadership competencies and potential capabilities of personages appearing in the process for appointment as wholetime directors in PSBs”. The advisory firm, which may be required to engage with around 60 candidates each year, would prepare an individual candidate assessment report for each and every candidate.

The knowledge partner is being hired to institutionalise a leadership development strategy for preparing future leaders that will be shortlisted from within PSB talent pool. Each year, the strategy programme will conduct skill improvement for around 75 participants in the senior management including general managers and deputy general managers.

The Banks Board Bureau, set up for a period of two years, started functioning in April 2016. In November 2016, the government had expanded the BBB’s role to include helping banks in terms of developing business strategies and capital raising plan, and leadership succession plan for critical positions, among others.

Former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai is currently the Chairman of the BBB, which has other members including Anil K Khandelwal, former CMD at Bank of Baroda, HN Sinor, former joint MD at ICICI Bank, and Rupa Kudwa, former MD & CEO at CRISIL. Department of Financial Services Secretary, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises are ex-officio members of the BBB. In order to improve governance at the banks, the Board last year advocated separation of management function of the board from its supervisory function. In the case of PNB’s recent fraud, there have been complaints of supervisory lapses on the part of bank management and its auditors.