Bank of Baroda fixing gaps in digital ops

In Action Mode

• BoB sacks CDO Akhil Handa for BoB World fiasco
• Kadgatoor Sheetal Venkatesmurt, current head of BoB’s digital channels, will take over Handa’s responsibilities
• Bank internally strengthened its surveillance and vigilance mechanism

Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (BoB) has taken corrective action including termination of executives at various levels in the aftermath of finding irregularities in the bank’s digital banking operations. Bizz Buzz had carried a story on these irregularities in its edition dated July 14.

The bank has taken action on the field and at the corporate level including the termination of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Akhil Handa in the BOB World fiasco, said Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Debadatta Chand, while addressing the media recently.

It was earlier during the week, when the bank had informed exchanges about Handa’s termination.

The bank is currently engaged with the RBI on multiple counts in connection with issues linked to the mobile application, Chand said, adding that the bank has internally strengthened its surveillance and vigilance mechanism.

Meanwhile, Kadgatoor Sheetal Venkatesmurt, the current head of BoB’s digital channels and operations, will take over Handa’s responsibilities. The reason for the change is due to the cessation of Handa’s employment, the bank had said in a notice.

Credited with building BoB’s flagship BoB World application, Handa was among the first high-profile hirings from the private sector into a public sector bank in 2015. He had been appointed by former MD and CEO PS Jayakumar and acted as an advisor to the MD in digital and fintech partnerships.

“As I embark on a new journey, today (October 31, 2023) marks the end of my journey at the, and I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to my incredible colleagues for the incredible support and camaraderie during my time here,” Handa said in a post on LinkedIn.

“While the decision to move on was made a long time ago, I had to wait until my transition period completion to make this announcement,” his post added.

During his stint at BoB, Handa was responsible for handling various verticals, including digital payment, assets, product engineering, digital channels, ATMs, fintech partnership, startup banking and BoB innovation centre.

Handa’s exit comes amid the bank suspending other top-level officials after the BoB World app issue came to the light. Earlier last month, it was said that BoB had suspended senior officials, including AGM and GMs, business correspondents and consultants, hired to onboard new customers on the mobile app. While the number of employees could not be confirmed, the suspension was done after an internal review found lapses in the procedure of onboarding new customers onto the app.

The investigation found that some employees fraudulently linked mobile numbers with accounts of customers without their consent to increase the active user base of the app and to meet their monthly targets. The banking regulator on October 10 barred the lender from onboarding new customers on the app, which had 53 million downloads and a 300 million active user base as of March-end.