Paytm Payments Bank set to strengthen leadership; to focus on tech-driven solutions

Paytm Payments Bank is adding several seasoned banking and financial services leadership personnel as the country moves towards digitalisation of the banking sector and paperless transactions.

The bank has appointed Deependra Singh Rathore as the interim chief executive officer (CEO), in addition to his role as chief product & technology officer, according to sources. It will announce the name of the new full-time CEO after receiving regulatory approvals.

Satish Gupta, who was the bank’s CEO, is set to retire in October.

Also read: PM Modi dedicates 75 digital banking units across 75 districts

Tech-driven solutions

It comes as the bank is looking to get more entrenched in India’s digital banking operations, trying to work on problems at scale with “technology-driven solutions.”

With technology-driven solutions, the bank is solving at scale to take on the opportunities in the digital banking sector in India. Strengthening its operations for scale, it has appointed Sunil Chander Sharma, a former IRS officer as chief operating officer (COO).

As the COO, Sharma would oversee the functions of customer support, retail operations, legal and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) and Human Resources and Administration.

Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson said, “We are focused on bringing the best of technology-driven banking to drive financial inclusion. As we continue our journey, we are excited to strengthen our leadership team and have seasoned experts from banking and financial services join us. Paytm Payments Bank remains committed to creating large-scale impact with compliance and operational excellence.”

Troubled period

Paytm has seen some trouble recently, with Enforcement Directorate (ED) raiding some of its offices, along with some searches of PayU locations, earlier in the year.

ED had also previously searched six locations belonging to Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree Payments, saying they were part of a probe against “illegal instant smartphone-based loans.”

A Paytm spokesperson had said at the time that the searches were to do with a matter that the company had already notified the stock exchange about as of September.

Also read: Chinese loan apps: ED freezes crores in Razorpay, Cashfree, Paytm

“As we have mentioned before, ED continues to seek information about certain merchants from various payment service providers, we have shared the required information,” the Paytm spokesperson said in the email.

(With Agency inputs)