M B N Rao has assumed charge as the chairman and managing director of Indian bank on Thursday. He has been the executive director of the bank from December 2000.

Rao, an agriculture graduate, joined Indian Bank in 1970 as a probationary officer and acquired varied specialised qualifications in banking and computers.

In 1973, he was posted a branch manager in Mumbai and since then served in different capacities at various branches and offices of the bank across the country.

From 1992, for about two year, he served as chief vigilance officer, in the general manager's cadre in Central Bank of India.

During his tenure as general manager in Indian Bank, he headed almost all the major areas of operations and his knowledge of the bank greatly facilitated the effective implementation of the restructuring plan and the consequent turnaround of the bank.

He was a member of the working group set up by government of India in 1999 to suggest an operational plan in formation of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and he played a major role in preparation of the report of the group. 

He was also a member of the high-level committee on ARCs formed by the Union government in November 2001. He is, at present, also a member in the apex level negotiating committee on wage revision for officers and workmen employees.

O N Singh is Allahabad Bank chairman: Allahabad Bank, which was headless for eight months, has got a new chairman.

The Prime Minister's Office recently cleared O N Singh's appointment. Singh, former ED of Bank of India, assumed charge as CMD of Allahabad Bank at Mumbai on Thursday.

Allahabad Bank had remained headless since March 2003 when its erstwhile chief retired.

Part of the delay was because A K Khandelwal, the former executive director of Bank of Baroda, who was offered the post refused to join Allahabad Bank as its CMD.

The government had shortlisted two possible candidates for the post -- O N Singh and P K Gupta. Gupta was the executive director of Corporation Bank. The decision to appoint Singh as the chairman was taken by the ministry sometime back, sources said.

O N Singh was appointed as the Bank of India (BoI) ED from Bank of Baroda (BoB) for a period of five years.

He assumed his office at New York in September 2000 and joined at the corporate office of BoI in Mumbai in October 2000. Prior to this assignment, Singh was general manager in charge of New York operations of Bank of Baroda.

Singh is a chartered accountant by qualification and has nearly three decades of banking experience in various areas of operations including credit management, investments and funds management, audit & inspection, and international banking.

Allahabad Bank in the meanwhile was being run by its executive director K K Rai who has been with the bank for quite sometime now.

Rai was not eligible for the post of chairman of the bank because he did not have the two residual years of service which is one of the prime factors for consideration of a bank chairman.