PS Jayakumar came on board as managing director and chief executive officer of Bank of Baroda (BoB) in October 2015 after a successful stint as an entrepreneur running housing finance and affordable housing companies.
Like all banks chiefs, Jayakumar also faced challenges like recognising and recovering bad loans. However, the bank had minimum exposure to big-ticket NPAs in the steel and infrastructure segments.
He started with some advantages – BoB had a good brand image and conducive work culture.
This helped him focus on developing long-term plans and capabilities. The bank is building category-wise platforms for channel financing of SME and agriculture credit.
He did a review of the bank’s international business and is now involved in rationalising the branch network.
He firmly believes that although BoB is a public sector bank, a lot can be done internally without government intervention.
BoB has put in efforts on skill and knowledge development as well as rolling out a succession plan by grooming managers for higher positions.
As someone who will pilot the merger of BoB with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, Jayakumar faces three challenges:
Ensuring fair valuation while deciding the swap ratio for merger.
Coming up with a collective leadership plan for harmonious integration of diverse cultures of the three banks.
Rationalising branch network across banks to save cost and accrue value.
