The tropical district of Thrissur in the heartland of Kerala has always attracted outsiders. It was here that Christianity and Islam entered India within years of their founding. But sitting right in the middle of this melting pot of cultures and heading a community bank that represents one of India’s oldest Christian denominations, V.P. Iswardas is in no mood to entertain outsiders. “My job is to focus on my customers,” the man who took charge as the managing director of Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) last December, says. He is in the middle of a multi-pronged battle for the control of this community bank. Backed by little more than the benign presence of Jesus Christ in a portrait in his office, he is trying to ward off takeover attempts and protect the bank’s independence.
The Big Brother
For Iswardas, ironically, the biggest support would come from the representatives of the Catholic Syrian community. The CSB Protection Committee is headed by the Archbishop of Thrissur Diocese. It’s a powerful institution there. Several churches, seminaries, trusts and institutions come under it. It runs 14 hospitals, six colleges, five professional colleges, training institutes, many schools. Father Raphael Thattil, Vicar General of the Archdeocese, says the bank isn’t a mere commercial entity. The diocese, he says, is dead against any merger or the loss of the bank’s identity.
(This story appears in the 30 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Further to my comments of May 1st.<br /> In all the above, first casualty in Sept 2008(AGM) was Corporate Governance. Management got merged into ownership before the Bank merger talk surfaced. All the so called major shareholders became directors. Federal Bank pushed in a former employee and another person who is a close associate of Mr. Venugopalan. Mr. Santhana Krishnan ws pushed in by again Federal Bank even when he was a Director of Federal Bank. <br /> PE funds have their nominee who is again the managing director of one of the funds. Two individual large shareholders got into the board themselves. All this was possible because, these people acted as one group. Now these few are selling the Bank in the market. All these are happening in spite of a good set of guidelines issued by RBI. Enforcement of guidelines is not easy as that of any other law in India. All our prayers are with the Bank and its CEO.
on May 4, 2010A few things are obviously missed out here. It must be noted that it is through Supreme Court's intervention and its order Chawlas got the approval which was pending for a long time after the RBI declined to acknowledge the transfer. Chawlas are not known to manage any business well in their own country and the bank they were having control in Thailand was taken over by the Government. It is largely believed that Santana Krishnan, Venugopalan and Chawlas pushed the merger proposal for their personal interest rather with larger objective of increasing shareholder value at both banks.
on May 2, 2010Please add the following after your last line: " But not mentally prepared to."
on May 1, 2010A good analysis. Everyone's prayers must be with Iswardas. One point we should note: Majority of the Directors on the Board neither have any in depth idea about the business nor the culture of the Bank. Since the large shareholders dominate the Board, their personal interest in selling their holding at a high price takes prominence over the growth of the Bank. This is the source of the problem for any CEO. In fact Mr. Chansrichawla's representatives (direct and indirect) are more on the Board despite RBI's clear instructions against.
on May 1, 2010Quite Interesting !
on Apr 27, 2010