Lets Talk, Market Watch

Chit Chat with new CEO of Kumari Bank

Published by Octron on July 26, 2009

After serving seven years in Bank of Kathmandu as managing director, Radhesh Pant has joined Kumari Bank as chief executive officer. He had a crucial hand in reviving BoK in the past. In an interview with The Kathmandu Post, Pant, who is also the immediate past president of Nepal Bankers’ Association, talks about challenges ahead of him at Kumari Bank and the banking sector of the country.

Why did you move to Kumari Bank leaving the Bank of Kathmandu (BoK) where you are also a promoter?

First off all, I consider myself a professional rather than a promoter of a bank. I worked as a professional in BoK and revived the bank from a bad situation. A situation had arisen right after my sacking from BoK without justification; that has now settled completely with the new board elected in the bank. I am now free from that mess. In recognition of my performance in BoK, Kumari Bank approached me to lead it. After negotiations with the directors, I have finally joined the new bank.

As you are still a promoter of BoK, how do you cope with the possible complication that may arise due to this potential conflict of interest?

Being a professional, my first job is to ensure that Kumari does better. Given the number of banks in the market, the fierce competition among them is natural. I am in favour of healthy competition among them.

What are the challenges you see in Kumari? How do you tackle them?

I am yet to study the bank’s situation thoroughly to find out the challenges it faces. I will start my job officially from Monday. Kumari is already a good bank with good profitability and low non-performing loans. As a chief executive officer, I will have to motivate and mobilise bank employees to deliver better services. I am going to work closely with the board and fulfill the responsibility I have been given. Another major task is to ensure that Kumari leads other banks in technology that enables us to serve customer better and faster.

You have moved to a bank with a history of similar problems among the directors to the ones you faced at BoK. How independently will you be able to work at Kumari?

The problems among the directors [at Kumari] have already been solved. The board has committed me total support in driving the bank ahead. The board has also committed that there will not be any interference over the rights of the CEO. The intervention of Nepal Rastra Bank in some banks has also made directors realise the fact that unnecessary interference is detrimental for them.

What are your future plans for Kumari?

My job will be to strengthen Kumari’s performance in terms of financial status and professionalism. I will also focus on increasing the bank’s reach across the country. Branches will be expanded. Small and medium enterprises will be given more focus. We are also seriously looking into going into new areas including microfinance, mutual fund and deposit insurance. The banks can open micro-finance companies as subsidiary of the bank.

How have you taken the recent intervention of NRB in financial institutions?

As a regulator, the central bank’s approach is very good. Compared to the performance of other central banks, I find the NRB quite ahead in addressing malpractices in the banking system. The central bank must take appropriate action to serve the interests of depositors because depositors basically own the financial institutions. The promoters have very limited contribution in the bank’s liquidity situation.

The provision of new monetary policy regarding Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) is expected to increase the interest rates of banks. Do you think this policy will affect the lending of the banks?

The government’s policy regarding SLR is good in terms of safety of the banks. The older banks have been investing in treasury bills to a higher extent than what the central bank fixed this year. Therefore I think it will not affect the overall banking system much. It will not have much effect in the lending too.

How have you taken the monetary policy provision that Nepali banks can open branch abroad?

It is a very good idea. If any bank opens branch in Gulf countries, they can deposit their money there. This also helps in streamlining the remittance in banking system. However, it is expensive to open branches abroad.

Source: Kathmandu Post

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