RBI recognise Small Finance Banks' contribution towards underserved sections of society

Deputy Governors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) MK Jain and M Rajeshwar Rao held a discussion with the MD and CEOs of all eleven Small Finance Banks (SFBs) on Friday through video conference and recognised their contribution towards financial inclusion by extending credit and reaching out to the underserved sections of society.

As per a statement issued by RBI, the discussion was attended by Executive Directors SC Murmu, Shri Saurav Sinha, Rohit Jain, CGMs, Department of Supervision, Ajay Kumar Choudhary, and Monisha Chakraborty.

"In the opening remarks, Deputy Governors recognised the contribution of SFBs towards financial inclusion by extending credit and reaching out to the underserved sections of society. The discussion was carried out across a range of themes such as the evolution of the business models of SFBs; enhancing Board oversight and professionalism; further improvements in assurance functions, i.e., compliance; internal control and risk management; need to build up their IT infrastructure both for enhanced customer experience and for cyber security resilience, etc. Further, the stress build-up due to COVID-19 and the mitigation measures for continued resilience of books of SFBs also formed part of the discussion," said RBI.

It further informed that fruitful discussion was held in which the MD and CEOs shared their experiences and ideas on the need to work together so that stated objective is achieved for which differentiated licences were issued.

"Challenges and the way forward were also deliberated upon so that Small Finance Banks continue to be important players in the Indian financial intermediation space and contribute in the financial inclusion journey of the nation," the statement added.

( With inputs from ANI )