The primary responsibility of understanding the risks run by the bank and ensuring that such risks are appropriately controlled and are within the risk parameters of the Bank, i.e. its risk appetite, is vested with the Board of Directors. It is now a widely accepted principle of good corporate governance that bank management understands new banking products and businesses of the Bank. Without proper understanding of the risks associated with such new products the management should not give their assent to the introduction of such products. It is the responsibility, therefore, of the Board of Directors to set the parameters for risk taking beyond which banking business should not be permitted. What then are the essential pre-requisites for good and effective risk management? Timely and reliable information is the foundation upon which good risk management is built. Lots of questions come to my mind here - do those responsible for credit decisions have a knowledge of the industry they are lending to? Why do banks depend so much on collateral when we all know it is the last resort? This is where information plays an important part. If you do not have knowledge of the industry or sector to which you are lending, your credit decision is seriously flawed and sooner or later will translate itself into NPA. Why do we have high levels of NPA? Is the information necessary for evaluation of creditworthiness of a borrower available to the banks?
Thank you for your attention. Les notes du Conseil d’analyse économique, Pour une refonte du cadre budgétaire européen, Avril 2021 Abiad A., Furceri D., Topalova P., The Macroeconomic Effects of Public Investment: Evidence from Advanced Economies, IMF Working Paper, May 2015. iii The American Crisis (circa 1776) i  ii