Misselling must stop, banking is about service, not targets: Bandhan Group chief

Need for enhanced vigilance and stronger supervision at the branch level

Days after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked banks to stop misselling, Bandhan Group Chairman Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said misselling, which had increased after banks set targets for their employees, must stop immediately.

“Misselling should to immediately stop, no doubt. It is not good. It is a target. When you [banks] give the target, that will happen. I have been saying that in the private sector there is too much of target. Every morning they discuss on that what is your today’s target. It [banking] is not the targets business, it is a customer service business,” Mr. Ghosh, the former MD & CEO of Bandhan Bank, said in an exclusive interview.

“We did not sell any insurance, mutual fund products in the first 5 years of running the bank. We started after 5 years as customers asked for it, else they could have gone elsewhere. Now if any misselling happens we return the money within 24 hours. If you (staff] are not returning back money you will be terminated,” he emphasised. 

Commenting on recent frauds involving some private sector bank employees, he said there was a need for enhanced vigilance and stronger supervision at the branch level.

“After digital banking, the number of frauds have increased. Peoples’ greediness has increased. In NBFC and microfinance, people are more motivated to work, not to work for money. That has enabled our people to stay far away from the money,” Mr. Ghosh said.

He said Bandhan Bank had invested a lot of money in training the staff. “Training not on transactions but on motivation. They are told about the value of customers’ money,” Mr. Ghosh said. “Integrity has to come from the environment and from the checks and balances. The maker and checker need to be different persons. The checker must be of higher level. If monitoring supervision is hard no one like to do a fraud. Monitoring supervision is very important,” he added.