Overhaul of compliance set-up priority for new Bank of Baroda chief

P S Jayakumar is taking over at a time when the bank is embroiled in an 'illegal foreign exchange transfer' case

Restoring Bank of Baroda (BoB)’s image and an overhaul of its compliance and monitoring set-ups are likely to top the agenda of P S Jayakumar, who takes charge as the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) on Tuesday.

This comes amid a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate into a case pertaining to “illegal foreign exchange transfer” from the bank’s Ashok Vihar branch in New Delhi. Besides, 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.

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

Senior executives said Jayakumar might address employees at the public sector lender’s headquarters, Baroda Corporate Centre, in the Bandra Kurla Complex here.

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

The bank has been without a full-time CEO for about 14 months. The last full-time chairman and managing director was S S Mundra. Since Mundra moved to RBI as deputy governor in July 2014, the executive director has been handling operations.

A senior public sector banker said, “Prolonged vacuum at the top can have an adverse impact. This is being reflected in the state of affairs at the bank. The organisation has competent people at various levels but how long can it run on auto pilot mode?” It was a warning to the government that large institutions, especially commercial banks, couldn’t be without a leader for long, he added.

A banker familiar with BoB’s operations said the recent issues didn’t seem systemic. He added there was a risk Jayakumar might be bogged down with the issues at hand, making it difficult to push reforms and improve  performance in the near term.