Dept of Posts to appoint CEO, COO for payments bank

The Department of Posts is planning to set up a board and appoint chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in the next 45 to 60 days and has already written to some public sector banks (PSBs) to nominate their executive director level or board members for the same.

The IPPB, set to be operational by March next year starting with 50 branches, will also come out with a request for proposal (RFP) in a few days to invite bids for selection of a technology partner.

The bank, which will expand its branch strength to 650 by September 2017, also plans to hire around 2,000 employees. Also, post offices across the country will have a separate counter for the bank where postal employees will act as business correspondents.

The board will comprise nine members, of which five will be independent and the remaining four will be in-house representatives. For independent members, a list of about 25-30 people has already been prepared, from which the five will be shortlisted.

"We have written to select PSBs like Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Union Bank to recommend their executive directors or board members who may be interested for the post on deputation basis," Postal Secretary SK Sinha said here.

The department has not approached SBI because it has already tied up with a payments bank of a private entity.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) will take a final call on the CEO and COO.

The department is also in the process of registering the name of the bank, which is likely to be done in a month or 45 days.

The government had approved Rs 800 crore for IPPB, which will have Rs 400 crore equity and Rs 400 crore grant.