8  BIS Review 22/2007  A quick glance at the corporate governance practices adopted by banks brings to fore the following major areas where banks have shown increased, albeit slow, compliance with the existing codes and standards:  • • • • • • • • • • • •  Banks seek prior clearance from SBP for the appointment of directors and CEOs; Banks follow the fit & proper test criteria for the appointment of key executives who should not be holding an office in another financial institution; The scope of the Board’s policies has been enhanced to cover a broad range of areas such as internal audit and control, risk management, human resources, credit, investments, etc.
In order, however, to appropriately signal the importance that the Reserve Bank attaches to the customer service rendered, both by the Reserve Bank and by the banking sector as a whole, a new department called Customer Service Department, was created in the RBI, on July 1, 2006 by regrouping various customerservice-related activities handled by different departments of the RBI, under a single department.