The Reserve Bank today held a Conference in Bengaluru for the Directors on the Boards of Small Finance Banks (SFBs). Shri Swaminathan J, Deputy Governor inaugurated the Conference. The event, with the theme ‘Governance in SFBs - Driving Sustainable Growth and Stability’, is part of a series of supervisory engagements that the Reserve Bank has been organising with the Directors of its Supervised Entities in recent past. Earlier, the Conferences for Directors on the Boards of Public Sector Banks and Private Sector Banks were held in May 2023 and for UCBs in August 2023 and June 2024.

Executive Directors Shri S C Murmu, Shri Rohit Jain and Shri R L K Rao along with other senior officials representing the Supervision, Regulation, and Enforcement Departments of the Reserve Bank also participated in the Conference.

Deputy Governor Shri Swaminathan J., in his keynote address, underscored the significant role of Governance in guiding SFBs towards sustainable growth with stability. He also exhorted the Directors to be vigilant and proactive in identifying and mitigating emerging risks and highlighted the importance of sustainable business models. He emphasised the need for strengthening cybersecurity to safeguard against digital threats, and urged a stronger focus on financial inclusion, customer service and grievance redressal to ensure a broader reach of banking services.

The Conference also included technical sessions conducted by senior officials of RBI in the areas of ‘Governance and Assurance Functions’, ‘Business Risk – Regulatory & Supervisory Expectations’ and ‘IT Systems & Cybersecurity’. The technical sessions were followed by a talk by an external Expert on ‘Board Conduct in Banks’ and a panel discussion by Independent Directors of select SFBs on the topic - ‘SFBs Prospects & Challenges’.

The Conference concluded with an open house interactive session of the participants with the Executive Directors of the Reserve Bank.

(Puneet Pancholy)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2024-2025/1176