Getting into damage control mode, Bank of Baroda (BoB), on Saturday, said it terminated the services of the head digital lending business, Akhil Handa, as part of actions initiated following regulatory steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India in the wake of the 'bob World' app controversy.
On October 10, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked BoB to stop onboarding new customers on its mobile application, 'bob World', with immediate effect, citing material supervisory concerns.
RBI had said the action was based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding customers onto the app.
Following the RBI's action, the bank suspended a few officials related to the alleged manipulation of 'bob World'
Managing director and chief executive officer Debadatta Chand told reporters that the company has "taken action on a large set of people on the field."
"As far as the (former) CDO (chief digital officer Akhil Handa) is concerned, it is a cessation of service induced by the bank and that is a termination," he said.
Honda, however, said his exit has been a personal decision. "My exit was a personal decision that I conveyed to the top management in August and since then I had been serving my notice period. The narrative of termination seems a deflection of operational lapses at the branch level," Reuters quoted Handa as saying.
Meanwhile, the bank had, on Saturday, claimed that the financial implications of the 'bob World' scam on the bank were very insignificant and immaterial.