The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given the green light for Salee Sukumaran Nair, a former deputy managing director (DMD) of State Bank of India (SBI), to become the CEO of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB). His appointment is for a three-year term, according to a notice from the bank.
Nair, who retired from SBI in May 2024, was previously the DMD and chief credit officer (CCO) of the bank. He will be taking over the CEO position from S Krishnan, who resigned in September 2023. Krishnan’s resignation followed a major error where Rs 9,000 crore was wrongly credited to a Chennai cab driver. He stayed on until a replacement could be found, as there were ongoing discussions between the bank and the RBI regarding potential candidates.
Although the RBI has approved Nair’s appointment, shareholders still need to give their final approval. He is expected to officially take charge in early September.
Nair began his career at SBI as a probationary officer in 1987 and holds a postgraduate degree in applied electronics. Over his 35-year career, he has worked in many roles, mostly dealing with large corporate accounts. He also had two international assignments, one in New York and another in Sydney, where he led SBI’s Australian operations. Additionally, he managed branches in Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh and played a part in the merger of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur with SBI.
As chief general manager in SBI’s stressed assets division from 2017 to 2020, Nair helped reduce the bank’s peak non-performing assets (NPA) from 10.96% to 4.90%. Later, he served as DMD overseeing the SME, agriculture, and financial inclusion departments until July 2022.
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