A radical overhaul of bank governance

The prosaic truth is that corporate governance just doesn't happen

Corporate governance today is something like the “values” one hears about all the time — it’s something one preaches to others without caring to practise it oneself. 

Much of the Reserve Bank of India’s 74-page discussion paper, Governance in Commercial Banks in India, sounds like one long sermon. There is plenty about the “culture and values” a bank is supposed to have and the board’s role in ensuring these percolate down the line. 

There is banal stuff on the board’s role in managing conflicts of interest, overseeing senior management performance, the composition of the board and its various committees. The