Bank of Baroda (BoB) has suspended about 60 senior officials, including 11 Assistant General Managers and a General Manager, after the Reserve Bank of India stopped the lender from further onboarding customers onto its ‘bob World’ mobile application.
Last week, the central bank said its action (taken in exercise of its power under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949) against the public sector bank is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of customers onto ‘bob World’ .
Most of the suspended officials are from the field, either heading branches or part of them. Before being suspended, some of these officials were transferred to other circles, said a bank official. An insider said the bank’s technology consultant could also face the music for the lapses in onboarding customers onto the mobile application.
An e-mail sent to BoB seeking details about the action initiated against the officials remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
The RBI said any further onboarding of customers of the bank on the ‘bob World’ application will be subject to rectification of the deficiencies observed and strengthening of the related processes by the bank to the satisfaction of the central bank.
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The bank has been further directed to ensure that already onboarded ‘bob World’ customers do not face any disruption on account of this suspension.
BoB, in a statement on October 10, said it has already carried out corrective measures to address the concerns of the RBI.
The bank has initiated further steps to plug any remaining gaps identified and will work closely with the RBI to address their concerns at the earliest to their satisfaction, it added.
A July 2023 Al Jazeera report alleged that the bank linked mobile numbers of strangers to customer account numbers to boost mobile app registrations.