Ex-IRDAI chief TS Vijayan's appointment on Yes Bank board under FinMin lens

MUMBAI: Former chairman of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) TS Vijayan has come under the scanner of the finance ministry for becoming director in Yes Bank NSE -4.82 % in 2018 without obtaining the prior approval of the government. After issuing a show cause notice, the department of financial services of the finance ministry has appointed chief vigilance officer of United India Insurance, R Balasubramanian, as the inquiry officer to look into the allegations against Vijayan a few days ago, sources said.

IRDA chairman and members are prohibited from being appointed on the board of any private or government companies linked to the insurance sector for two years after their retirement from the regulatory body. It requires special permission from the Central government if they wish to do so. IRDA rule titled ‘Bar on Future Employment of Members’ specifies this criteria. Email queries to Vijayan, the finance ministry, Yes Bank and Balasubramanian did not elicit any response till Sunday press time.

Vijayan retired as the IRDA chairman in February 2018 and the same year he was appointed as an chaindependent director on the Yes Bank board. The bank is a corporate agent to insurance companies including Max Life and Reliance General Insurance, which are directly regulated by IRDA. Vijayan was also a key member of the search and selection committee set up to identify the successor of former Yes Bank Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor.

On March 5 Yes Bank was put under moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India and the board of the bank was superseded. The finance ministry is also probing if Vijayan had any role in informing the Kerala government about the Yes Bank crises in advance, the sources said. Months before the RBI imposed a withdrawal limit of `50,000 per depositor in the Yes Bank, the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund (KIIF) withdrew all its funds more than `250 crore from the bank. Vijayan recently joined the KIIF board.

Source: The Economic Times