Fed Bank shortlists BoI CMD for top job

The present Bank of India chairman and managing director M Venugopal has been shortlisted by the Federal Bank board as a candidate for chairmanship.

After a two-day long deliberation, the Federal Bank board has finally shortlisted chairman and managing director Bank of India M Venugopal for the post after the term of the present chairman K P Padmakumar ends on December 31, banking sources said. The present executive director of Federal Bank, P R Sankaranarayanan, was also among the forerunners for the post.

Padmakumar in the past has already received two extensions as the chairman of the bank.

The bank board today drew up a list of three possible candidates, after failing to reach a consensus on a name for the last two days. Proceedings of the bank has come under limelight after ICICI Bank, the major shareholder with a 20.44 per cent stake in Federal Bank, was denied full voting rights at the earlier annual general meeting held on September 27.

ICICI Bank had moved the Company Law Board seeking a stay order on the AGM move. Following the CLB stay, the bank board now has only five directors. The bone of contention was the issue of splitting the post of the chairman and managing director into two: a part-time chairman, and a full-time managing director.

Earlier, ICICI Bank's nominee to the board, P H Ravikumar, was voted out at the AGM. His name was proposed to replace M S Parthasarthy, who retired earlier.

ICICI Bank had originally purchased a 12.7 per cent stake in Federal Bank in 1993 but subsequently its stake went up to cross 20 per cent through subscription to rights issue and so on.

The Reserve Bank of India had made an exception and granted ICICI Bank full voting rights in accordance with its stake even though normally the voting right of an investor in a private bank is capped at 10 per cent.