To ensure that the dealings of its officers are more transparent, State Bank of India has asked them not to meet the borrowers, existing as well as prospective, at any location other than the branch.

According to instructions given to field-level functionaries, an officer should hold meetings with the borrower only in the presence of other officers. One-on-one meetings and meetings at the residence of either the officer or the borrower should be avoided.

Further, talks between the bank staff and the borrower, who may come for a loan/enhancement of loan limit/ one-time compromise settlement of a loan that has gone sour, should ideally be video recorded. The emphasis on transparency in officers’ dealings with borrowers comes in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation recently registering a case against SBI Deputy Managing Director Shyamal Acharya, Chairman of a New Delhi-based private company and others in an alleged bribery case.

Visitors register To minimise transgression in the sanction of loans, all branches/offices will have a visitors register, which would contain a trail of visitors meeting bank officials. Packets brought in by customers will be scrutinised at the reception, said a senior bank official having knowledge of the new transparency regime being ushered in.

Apparently, the management of India’s largest bank wants to ensure that its loan sanction procedures are not undermined and loans are granted solely on the basis of merit of the proposals.

Last week, SBI constituted an internal committee comprising two senior Managing Directors — Hemant Contractor and A. Krishna Kumar — to investigate allegations of wrongdoing against its Deputy Managing Director.

The DMD has been asked to proceed on leave, a bank spokesperson said.

The bank constituted the committee following the CBI registering a case against its official for alleged graft in sanctioning a Rs 75-crore loan to a New Delhi-based private company.

>ramkumar.k@thehindu.co.in

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