Compliance officer for banks prescriptive, not right thing: Ex-SBI MD

Earlier this month, the RBI asked banks to appoint chief compliance officers (CCO) with a view to getting uniformity in the approach followed by lenders

The prescriptive way of having a dedicated compliance officer is not the right thing and by initiating such a move, which is in line with other countries, the Reserve Bank is making the compliance function as the overall incharge of a lender, a senior banker said on Tuesday.

V G Kannan, who served as the chief executive of industry lobby Indian Banks Association till recently after retiring as the managing director of SBI, said the risk function is as important and it cannot be equated with that of compliance.

Earlier this month, the RBI asked banks to appoint chief compliance