on a national or on the regional bank we are contemplating? what matters should be decided by unanimity, what by a simple majority? should we consider proportional representation, consensus, or, for the regional matters, touching on discrete national interests, should we have a requirement for even double - majority voting, that is, after an agreement by the bank, a reference back to each nation for ratification? • what should be the tenure of office for boards and governors? should they have fixed, or open tenure like some judges dependent on “ good behaviour ” ; should these jobs be open to competition on merit, and with freer movement of labour, should the choices for employment with national and regional banks be limited on grounds of nationality? this issue is hotly debated now with the world bank and the imf, where, at least for the fund, the next managing director will be appointed in a different manner than has been the case since its creation. • how is accountability to be ensured? is that a matter solely for the board, or the shareholders ; at national level should there be a cross - party parliamentary committee of scrutiny ; and what do we envisage for our regional bank to safeguard probity and avoid even the suspicion of loose practice? • what is transparency? should documents be open to examination by the board, or by parliament or indeed by the people, under freedom of information? how far should voting behavior be reported ; should it be just the overall outcome or the detailed voting by individual members, as in many parliaments? • who should be the shareholders? should this be limited to the states or opened to the private sector and to others ; and, with the rise in shareholder interest in management in many companies, what should be the shareholder rights and powers in central and regional banks? • are central banks for the governments, or for the people? how should this choice be reflected in the forms of governance? architecture and performance these are some of the issues emerging, haltingly, on the agenda at national, regional and international levels. the mere fact of raising the questions suggests some answers, or some possible avenues for searching for them. in the final statement from the commonwealth meeting in june, this year, reflecting on the performance of the bretton woods institutions, the judgment was unequivocal : “ … such institutions do not have adequate capacity, governance structures, or built - in responsiveness either to anticipate or to address global needs in a timely fashion … ” this

so as to keep their product and service offerings relevant and contemporaneous to emerging customer needs. they would have to rummage through huge amount of customer data that gets generated every day in course of transactions and use appropriate analytics to develop products in keeping with changing customer preferences. in this context, banks can also think in terms of giving a dedicated platform of their webpage to the customers to solicit their views / requirements. 28. as competition gradually brings down the spreads and the profitability, the banks have to continuously work towards improving their productivity and efficiency so as to maintain their roe. towards this end, technology would be the key enabler. though, technology has been available and been in use in the banking sector for more than a decade now, my belief is that it has not yet been exploited to its optimum potential. technology can assist in all spheres of banking activities – right from planning, strategy, mis, processing, delivery, monitoring and follow up. i feel that the banks that can quickly conjure up a technology based cost - efficient delivery model for their products and services would be the ultimate winners in the long run. 29. i briefly touched upon the need for developing standardized products and services for furthering the retail banking initiatives. across the globe, retail lending has been a spectacular innovation in the commercial banking sector in recent years. the growth of retail lending, especially, in emerging economies, is attributable to the rapid advances in information technology, the evolving macroeconomic environment, financial market reform, and several micro - level demand and supply side factors. in the context of retail lending, deployment of scoring models would minimize the subjective element and thereby fast track the decision making process. the mass retail banks of today would also have to plan a transit path for the class banking and gradually to entrepreneurial banking. 30. quality of services offered by the banks is going to be another key differentiator. in ultimate analysis, providing better service to the customers would be the key to generating larger revenue for the banks. conclusion 31. the retail banking space proved to be an oasis of relative calm amidst the tumult caused by the financial tsunami that the world continues to grapple with even today. the customer deposit garnered by retail banking represents an extremely important source of stable funding for most banks. in this context, it is essential for the banks to keep pushing the frontiers of innovation and experimentation in the retail banking space to survive and also to remain relevant. one of the most essential