The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said the five-member Standing External Advisory Committee (SEAC) for evaluating applications for Universal Banks as well as Small Finance Banks will be headed by MK Jain, former Deputy Governor of RBI.
Besides Jain (Chairperson), the other SEAC members are: Revathy Iyer, Director, Central Board, RBI; Parvathy V. Sundaram, former Executive Director, RBI; Hemant G. Contractor, former MD, State Bank of India and former Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA); and N. S. Kannan, former MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
The Committee has a tenure of three years. Iyer and Contractor were also part of the earlier Committee headed by Shyamala Gopinath, former Deputy Governor of RBI.
As per licensing guidelines, applications for Universal Banks and Small Finance Banks will be initially screened by the Reserve Bank to ensure prima facie eligibility of the applicants.
AU Small Finance Bank and Fino Payments Bank have made applications for conversion into a universal bank and SFB, respectively.
