Srinagar (J&K): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday approved the appointment of Baldev Prakash as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jammu and Kashmir Bank for three years.
The appointment is effective from the date of taking charge or April 10, 2022, whichever is earlier, the bank said in a note to exchanges today.
The bank further said that the appointment of Prakash as MD and CEO by the Board of the Bank and the actual date of his taking charge shall be communicated separately.
Earlier, Prakash worked with the State Bank of India (SBI) in various capacities including as Chief General Manager (Digital and Transaction Banking-Marketing) responsible for framing bank-level policy and strategy for developing and providing digital and transaction banking services to all corporate clients of the Bank.
He also worked at Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) where he was responsible for handling remittances business including treasury operations successfully, the bank said in a release.
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Earlier, on October 5, RBI had again extended the services of the current Chairman and Managing Director of Jammu and Kashmir Bank RK Chhibber.
As per the Bank's release, Chhibber’s term had been extended by a further period of six months with effect from October 10, 2021, when his extended tenure was about to end or “till the appointment of MD & CEO, whichever is earlier.”
This was his eighth extension since being appointed to the post in June 2019 after Parvez Ahmad Nengroo was sacked from the position. Chhibber was supposed to complete his present tenure of extensions on October 10, 2021.
On June 8, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir administration removed Nengroo and appointed the bank’s executive president, Chhibber as the interim chairman.
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Soon after the Nengroo's removal, the J&K Anti Corruption Bureau raided the premises of the bank’s headquarters ahead of a scheduled meeting of the board of directors.
Nengroo was appointed chairman in October 2016. Shortly after the announcement was made, he claimed on Twitter, "Absolutely no regrets. Did my job most diligently, honestly and in the best interest of the institution. Open to scrutiny on each and every transaction I have done during my two decades of functioning in the bank."
The state administration, however, said the move was part of its commitment to take "necessary steps for making the Jammu and Kashmir Bank as one of the best performing banks in the country and accelerate economic growth in the state."
The J&K bank, considered to be the erstwhile state’s most important financial institution, was incorporated on October 1, 1938.
