Several Founders, Co-Founders, CXO Bankers, CXO Fintech professional & people who participated in the ePanel discussions:
- Mr. Manish Khera, Founder & CEO Happy
- Mr. Amrish Rau, Former CEO PayU India, Naspers Group
- Mr. Paresh Rajde, Founder & Chairman, Suvidhaa Infoserve Private Limited
- Mr. Vishwas Patel, Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd
- Mr. Nagaraj Mylandla, Chairman & Managing Director, FSS
- Mr. Pramod Saxena, Founder & Chairman, Oxigen Services India Pvt. Ltd.
- Mr. Sridhar R, Former President & Credit Risk Officer, Lakshmi Vilas Bank
- Mr. Abhay Kulkarni, Former General Manager Sales, Worldline Global
- Mr. Anil Shenoy, Director and Risk Management, First Data Corporation
- Mr. Avro Mukerji, Investment counselor – NRI Burgundy, Axis Bank
- Mr. Chris Wakare, Founder & Managing Partner, IntelliConnect Technologies
- Mr. Vikas R Panditrao, Co-Founder, Forum of Industry Academic Knowledge Sharing (FIAKS)
- Many other CEO/CXO Bankers & Fintech professionals on FIAKS Forum
A few questions arose in the FIAKS community with regards to the news article on Former Chief Executive of ICICI bank. A member asked – shouldn’t all the private bankers drawing higher salary & authorized signatories to be available for scrutiny by independent vigilance team even after they leave their jobs or retirement? Even the secretary of society has to sign an indemnity bond of Rs. 50 lakhs so that he doesn’t play around with property documents of residents. Then why let private bankers free of this rule? Especially for bankers who are in the business of lending (fund/non-fund) and investment banking.
An expert agreed that top bankers should be scrutinized but he believes that this rule shouldn’t be based on salary limits but on the authority that the person has. It definitely exists in the public sector. Private bank works on bygones are bygones and bankers can be big beneficiaries of this approach putting bank & public money at risk.
An expert believes that in today’s day and age no banker can go scot-free in case any misconduct is proved. As far as lending in Private Banks is concerned, decision making happens at the credit appraisal board level. So it is anyway not in any one individual’s power or decision to lend that can influence the whole system. However, if there is a plan for more scrutiny around this, everyone would pass the buck when it comes to decision making. As a result, credit growth might get impacted which is what the PSU Banks are facing at the moment.
Another member blames the “Board” and the “Risk Management Team” as they could have flagged this off much earlier. He believes that everyone who had signed off on this should be held accountable.
One of the FIAKS members adds that nobody can stop anybody from filing an FIR and force an investigation into any criminal offense. It’s often the high-handedness of the authorities under pressure from well-networked alleged culprits that prevents even FIRs getting recorded. Irrespective of whether one is working, suspended or retired, nothing should stop legal/police action. The law doesn’t differentiate a bank executive management crook from a poor pickpocket. In fact, the former should get a stiffer punishment than the latter as greed is morally far worse than need.
A member points out that this is where it all becomes less clear. While the complicity of Board & Risk Management Team may need to be examined, in this specific case, it was clearly one of conflict of interest at a personal level with the ex-CEO. Buck must stop there and even the Board should be accountable on the principle of collective responsibility.
A leader in the community sadly exclaims that we should not pass presumptive judgments on a set of people and institutions who are iconic and the very foundation of the financial system in this country. The member was quite disappointed to read in the papers the news of criminal charges being filed. And other names of the officers of ICICI who we want to investigate.
What is the role of the CEO? It is to grow the company and create shareholder wealth. Whether it was more or less, compared to the competition, is for shareholders and Board as representative of the shareholders to judge. And they do.
Jeff Immelt brought the whole General Electric (GE) down. It’s shutting down. Are we filing a criminal case against him? There are many CEOs under whom companies are not growing or under whom the companies are failing. Are we filing criminal cases against them? (Refer – Jeff Immelt ‘destroyed’ General Electric: Ken Langone)
There was no government lapse either from their side. The loan went through a governance process. For each loan going bad for a bank, a hundred of them do well. It’s part of the business. If a car factory produces a car with defects, is it a criminal offense? Is it a governance lapse? ICICI has one of the lowest NPAs in the industry. They may not have the lowest number but they are definitely not in the top. And even then they are still strong enough to do business. They don’t sit on public deposits and choke the industry/economy. They can do business because of their excellent people and governance. Shareholders have gained because of it. That’s why they are not questioning.
The two underlying issues here :
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