#Day84: Who Is Parvez Ahmad, The New J&K Bank Chairman

KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

On Friday, Reserve Bank of India, approved that Parvez Ahmad is new J&K Bank Ltd. J&K Government had recently cleared his name from a panel of three members which was forwarded to RBI for mandatory approval.

Parvez Ahmad, the incumbent Executive President of J&K Bank, will be first in-service and second in-house Chairman and CEO of the bank. Incumbent Chairman and CEO, Mushtaq Ahmad, will demit the top office on October 05. He was serving his second term as J&K Bank CEO.

Here is a brief profile of the new chairman who assumes charge of the J&K Bank, the only listed company of state, on October 06, 2016.

Parvez Ahmad is the senior most Executive President of J&K Bank with 18 years of experience in banking and Financial Services.

He has held various senior important positions in the bank as a part of Corporate Management team. He has gained expertise in areas which inter alia include Corporate and Retail Credit, Treasury Operations, Bancassurance, Corporate and Legal Affairs, Finance and Taxation, Corporate Governance, Investor relations, Business Administration, Merchant banking, Financial services, Business Support, Credit Card, Corporate Communication, Supervision and Control, CSR initiatives and Social Banking.

Parvez Ahmed, BSc, ACS, is a Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

ICSI, a premier statutory body created under the Act of Parliament for developing and regulating the profession of Company Secretaries, who are considered to be corporate governance professionals on issue which is of prime relevance in today’s economy.

Parvez Ahmad joined the J&K Bank in the year 1998 as a first qualified Company Secretary during its maiden public issue and is credited with successfully managing the same.

The IPO received an overwhelming response across the country despite difficult market conditions prevailing at that time. Consequently, bank became first listed company of J&K State on both BSE & NSE.

The said public issue besides up surging the financial strength of the Bank, has changed its ownership structure and increased its visibility which enjoined upon the management to conduct its business in line with the best industrial standards.

This initiative also integrated the people of J&K State with capital market of the country besides creating awareness about capital market products resulting in wealth creation opportunities for the people of the state.

He has also steered the Merchant Banking business of the Bank and established Depository, Stock Broking, Debenture Trustee and Bankers to issue services for the bank. The Board of the bank has appreciated the successful implementation of Depository services which enabled the shareholders in J&K State to held their shares in electronic form (DEMAT) and deal in a transparent way through an institutional mechanism.

He has also been instrumental in incorporating a subsidiary for the Bank- JKB Financial Services Limited for business relating to Para banking products.

Parvez has been instrumental in bringing FII’s Investment in the Bank which at one point of time touched to 34.92% and prominent FII’s who invested in the Bank include Aberdeen, Wellington Management Company, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, Fidelity, Credit Suisse etc.

He is objectively managing the Investor Relations Department since 1998 and has regularly interacted with prominent FII’s through Road Shows, Conference Calls and Meetings across the globe. He has also managed successfully Redeemable Bonds Issue (subordinate Debt for Tier-II Capital) of the Bank.

He has also brought professionalism in Board functioning by bringing qualitative improvement in the overall functioning of Board Secretariat and in the presentation of Agenda/Minutes of the Board/Committee Meetings. As Compliance Officer from bank, he ensured compliance of various statutes viz Companies Act, 1956 and Rules framed thereunder, Banking Regulation Act, 1949, RBI, Stock Exchanges guidelines- pursuant to Listing Agreement, SEBI, NSDL and CDSL guidelines as part of complying with good governance norms, which have been well appreciated by the Board of Directors and reflected in Investors perception.

Parvez had an opportunity to work with eminent members on the Board of the Bank which include M S Verma, G P Gupta, Vipin Malik, Late Professor A M Khusro, and Naseer Munje, to name a few.

He has also worked closely with all the Chairmen of the Bank since 1998- M Y Khan, Dr Haseeb A Drabu and Mushtaq Ahmad and has been associated with various projects.

Parvez Ahmad has been Project Coordinator for various strategic Projects of the Bank and implementation there of viz;

1. Price Waterhouse Coopers – Business Planning, organizational restructuring, Financial and capital restructuring and Asset liability management
2. KPMG- US GAAP
3. Ernst & Young- Accounting Manual for Bank
4. Dr Sanjiv Aggarwal- Audit Manual for Bank
5. Ray & Keshavan – Logo redesigning of Bank
6. Momentum Strategy Consultants Private limited- J&K Bank Corporate Brand Strategy Project

He has enriched the contents of Bank’s Annual Report on Corporate Governance by providing various voluntary information/meeting disclosures to stake holders over and above statutory requirements which were well acclaimed by investors and other institutions.

Further, he soon initiated to streamline the Taxation Department of the Bank by imparting Skill Advancement Trainings for employees across all levels.

Parvez Ahmad has also a rich exposure of operational level Banking as he has headed the Bank’s largest and sensitive Zone i.e., Kashmir Central of J & K state.

As Zonal Head (Kashmir Central), he  brought significant growth in business and profitability, toned up the administration of the zone, gave impetus to customer services and introduced various new initiatives viz Centralization of ATM Network for Cash Management, Creation of documentation Centre for the Zone to facilitate the preparation and processing of Legal documents relating to Credit Proposals, expeditious roll over to Finacle in all branches, promotional schemes for broadening Debit/Credit Card base etc. across levels for accomplishment of corporate goals.

He has been instrumental in bringing about qualitative improvement in the overall functioning of S&C Division of the Bank. He is also a member on Apex Committee of Bank for ALCO, IRMC and ORMC.

Parvez Ahmad also possesses significant experience and expertise in managing professionally the portfolio of management of JK Grameen Bank as Controller from sponsor Bank.

He is accredited with successfully managing of Apple Finance project which brought qualitative improvement in horticulture sector and helped to rescue growers from exploitative noose of money lenders and empowered them sufficiently in terms of finance and guidance to realize the true potential of the apple industry in J&K state.

Under the project 1.42 Lakh growers were provided Financial Assistance to the extent of Rs 2500 Crores. The said initiative has been well appreciated by Harvard Business School.

He has also successfully managed the centrally sponsored project of PMJDY by accomplishing targets despite difficult conditions caused by devastating floods in the J&K State which covered 4763 villages and 13.31 Lakh accounts were opened.

Parvez Ahmad has attended all Bank Economists Conferences(BANCON) held since 1998 as active participant from Bank involving participation of top executives from Banks and  leading world economists to discuss issues affecting banking.

He has also attended various Global Financial Analyst Conferences as a part of Knowledge Management exercise such as:

1. Bear Stearns/Motilal Oswal India Conference at New York
2. Motilal Oswal Investor Conference 2010 at New York
3. CLSA India Forum Conferences at Singapore
4. CLSA India Forum Conferences at United States
5. Credit Suisse Investors Meet at Hong Kong
6. Global Investor Conference at New York
7. Deutsche Equities India- Investor Meet at Hong Kong
8. Deutsche Equities India- Investor Meet at Singapore

Parvez Ahmad is serving as a Director on the Board of JKB Financial Services Limited. He has also served as Director on Board of MetLife Insurance India for two years and received appreciation for valuable contribution from Chairman of the Board.

He has also served in honorary capacity for 8 years as Chairman of the Srinagar Satellite Chapter of NIRC of Institute of Companies Secretaries of India.