All checks and balances practised in banks have been given a go bye over a period  for reasons known only to the  Banks Boards and Perhaps to RBI also. The periodical transfer of staff particularly handling sensitive desks and fraud prone areas, internal audits, concurrent audits, periodical visits of Executives to branches to have a feel of the branch functioning through interaction with staff, major advances customers, depositors etc , insistence on control returns to have a sense of wrong advances and check on them, external audits where window dressing is very liberal to cover up all wrong doings, frauds,etc have been either diluted or totally given up.. The Reserve Banks Control through periodical inspection of major branches and  branches where advances concentrate, scrutiny of sensitive returns, insistence on adherence to prudential norms etc  have been made perfunctory of late and savings on costs  through curtailment of staff, cancellation of trainings, stoppage of  essential supervisory and regulatory exercises have been justified diplomatically and convincingly allowing the rot to take place in banking. The over all result is wide spread frauds , loot through bad debts, and unjustifiable expenditures in banks resulting in loss of credibility in Governance standards and weakening of banks functioning.  Less said the better about banks functioning these days.

Dr T V Gopalakrishnan

( Comment given in Business Standard.)