Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with the heads of public sector banks (PSBs) on Monday and urged the lenders to focus on attracting more deposits from customers and boosting the cybersecurity of their systems.
The meeting was conducted to review the performance of the public financial institutions, reported Business Standard. The Finance Minister took cognizance of the improvement in asset quality of the public sector lenders, but at the same time, suggested that banks should optimise the potential of resolution and recovery options offered by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL).
Increase Deposits In Banking Sector
An official release from the finance ministry stated, “The finance minister urged banks to ensure their employees actively connect with customers, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. She also encouraged PSBs to explore collaborations to leverage each other’s strengths by sharing best practices in emerging areas and equipping themselves to keep pace with changes in the banking sector.”
The minister also called on the banks to raise more deposits via ‘special drives’ amidst recent reports of slower growth in deposits as compared to credit.
Strengthen Cybersecurity
The minister also urged the public sector banks to focus on enhancing their cybersecurity and make sure that the data security of their systems is not compromised.
Sitharaman called on the banks to collaborate with government, regulators, and security agencies to put in place necessary measures against cyber risk.
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Meeting With Rural Regional Banks
The finance minister also met with the senior leadership of regional rural banks in a different meeting and asked the lenders to speeden up the one state one RRB initiative. She further instructed the banks to focus on enhancing their business performance and encourage growth in MSME clusters.