Jayakumar takes charge as MD & CEO of Bank of Baroda

After over 14 months, public sector lender Bank of Baroda now has a full time chief executive. P S Jayakumar took charge as managing director and chief executive this morning at BOB's corporate headquarters in Bandra Kurla Complex today.

BOB executives said he has already started engaging with with senior executives. He may address the staff in the evening.

A former Citibank executive, Jayakumar was selected in August from private sector firm VBHC Value Homes, where he was managing director and CEO.

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BOB has been without a full-time CEO since August 2014. The last full time CMD was S S Mundra, who moved to Reserve Bank of India as deputy governor in July 2014. Post Mundra's exit, executive director has been handling the operations.

Shares of Bank of Baroda were ruling flat at Rs 176 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The bank's image has taken a beating due to alleged scams and ongoing probe. Besides alleged "illegal transfers" of foreign exchange of over Rs 6,000 crore from its branch in Delhi, a Rs 350 crore bill discounting scam in Gujarat has also hurt the bank’s reputation.  

BoB executives said a probe by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) into loans to the troubled Atlas Jewellery Group through BoB’s Dubai branch and the transfer of Executive Director K V Rama Moorthy had also done some damage.

“These episodes have not only led to reputational loss, but also unease within the organisation. It has hit employee morale,” said an executive.