RBI Governor asks banks to remain vigilant

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday told chiefs of public and private sector banks that owing to prevailing adverse global conditions, banks need to be extra vigilant. His caution came during a meeting in Mumbai with heads of public sector banks, where chiefs of select private sector banks were also present. The meeting was also attended by RBI Deputy Governors M. Rajeshwar Rao and J. Swaminathan along with a few senior officials of the central bank. Das noted during the meeting that while performances of banks have been good despite adverse global conditions, they need to be extra careful and vigilant. He also emphasised the need for banks’ chiefs to strengthen the governance in banks and focus on the tripod of banking stability consisting of compliance, risk management and audit functions. Issues relating to strengthening of credit underwriting standards, monitoring of large exposures, implementation of external benchmark linked rate (EBLR) guidelines, bolstering IT security and IT governance, improving recovery from written-off accounts, and timely and accurate sharing of information with credit information companies, were also discussed.