Paytm Bank fiasco: All eyes on IT talent for bank and fintech boards

April 1 deadline for establishing board-level IT strategy committee

The situation at Paytm Payments Bank has heightened the urgency to onboard top-flight information technology (IT) personnel in the financial services space.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) master direction issued on November 7 last year said that regulated entities — banks, non-banking financial companies, including financial technology companies — must establish a board-level IT strategy committee (ITSC) with a minimum of three directors as members. The chairperson is required to be an independent director with “substantial IT expertise” in managing/guiding IT initiatives, and other members must be “technically competent”.

Mint Road’s directive to establish ITSC takes effect from April