Bankers to elect prez in three-way contest
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KATHMANDU, FEB 03 -
Coinciding with the prime ministerial election, bankers are all set to elect
president of the Nepal Bankers’ Association on Thursday. This is the first time that an election is being held to elect NBA president in six years.
Incumbent president Sashin Joshi, vice president Ashok Rana and member Kamal Gyawali are in the race to lead the bankers’ community.
It is almost certain that they will contest the election as none of them has withdrawn
his candidacy as of the deadline to pull out. Joshi is chief executive officer of NIC Bank, Rana is CEO of Himalayan Bank and Gyawali is CEO of KIST bank.
Executive chiefs of 30 banks and three development banks who are members of the NBA will be voting to elect their president for a two-year term.
Earlier, Basudev Ram Joshi, then Chairman of Rastriya Banijya Bank was elected through an election process six years ago.
After that, Radhes Pant, then CEO of Bank of Kathmandu, was elected unopposed for a half term and he was again elected unopposed. Incumbent president Joshi was also elected unopposed.
However, the candidates had been making efforts to forge a consensus until Wednesday night. Joshi said that they were still trying to elect the president on the basis of consensus. Bankers said that fierce competition was likely between Joshi and Rana while Gyawali has been considered the underdog.
Gyawali said that he stood as a candidate to discourage the practice of electing the president on the basis of nexus instead of fair competition.
“My principle has already won with the candidacy of three, and I am also trying to convince voters to vote for me,” added Gyawali.
He admitted that he was the underdog among the two giants. However, he is hopeful that new banks would vote for him as he is also from among new banks.
Rana is hopeful that he will win the presidency as voters will not entertain a second term for Joshi given the tradition of presidents serving one term for the last few terms. The NBA statute, however, allows the president to stand for a second term.
“Despite promising to serve just one term, Sashinji has become a candidate,” said Rana. “It is disappointing.” Bankers see a close competition between Joshi and Rana.
“I think the deciding factor will be joint venture banks and government-owned banks,” said a banker.
There are four government-owned banks and financial institutions and five joint venture banks including Himalayan Bank whose CEO Rana is one of the candidates.
Joshi has the advantage of holding the position for two years and driving the organisation during the most difficult period for the banking sector which suffered a liquidity crunch.
A former president of the NBA said that the long held tradition of electing the president on the basis of consensus must be followed.
Posted on: 2011-02-03 10:52
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