Mavila Vishwanathan Nair (born 3 March 1952) is one of the seniormost bankers in the Indian Banking Industry. He is the current Chairman & Managing Director of the Union Bank of India

Union Bank of India

Union Bank of India is one of India's largest state-owned banks , is listed on the Forbes 2000. It has assets of USD 13.45 billion and all the bank's branches have been networked with its 1135 ATMs. Its online Telebanking facility are available to all its Core Banking Customers - individual as...

. Earlier he was the Chairman and Managing Director of the Dena Bank. Although Nair was born in Kasaragod, Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, he grew up in Mangalore

Mangalore

Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...

, Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

.

Early Life and Education

M.V.Nair was born on 3 March 1952, the second eldest of seven siblings. Most of his schooling was in southern Karnataka, and he graduated from St. Aloysius College, Mangalore. Later, Nair attended training workshops in Indian School of Business, Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School.

Corporation Bank (1973-2004)

Nair joined Corporation Bank as a probationary officer in 1973. He was identified as a promising prospect early on, and was offered the challenge to head one of the biggest branches of the Bank in the capital city of New Delhi.

Early success in middle management put Nair on the fast track program with additional responsibility. He subsequently went on to head the western and central region of the bank. Both the regions were the Best Performing Regions of the bank in his tenure.

After stints in the field, Nair was called on to set up a strategic business unit (SBU) to boost the much needed fee based income, to position Corporation Bank as a leading player in the Corporate Banking arena. Nair built the SBU – CAPS (Collection and Payment Services) from scratch, set up the team and branched out, launching innovative solutions to corporate customers. The strategic vision was converted into reality with the adoption of high-tech solutions, enhancing the visibility in corporate circles and enabling the bank to forge strong relationships with leading Corporates. The success of CAPS defined the emergence of Corporation Bank as a successful corporate bank in the Indian banking industry. Business during this stint i.e. from 1992-98 zoomed Rs. 450 crore to Rs. 53450 crore (US$ 154 mn to US $ 13531 mn) with an increase in revenue base from Rs. 0.51 crore to Rs. 58.90 crore (UD $ 0.17 mn to US $ 14.91 mn).

Nair also headed various departments at the corporate office including CAPS, Human Resources (HR), and Risk Management.

He was subsequently elevated to Executive Director of Dena Bank.

Dena Bank (2004-2006)

Executive Director, subsequently Chairman and Managing Director

Nair was promoted as Executive Director to Dena Bank when the bank was facing a severe challenge on the non-performing assets (NPA) front. He subsequently served as chairman and was with the bank for 2 years. Dena Bank is today one of the most successful turnaround stories in the Indian banking industry.

Union Bank (2006-Present)

Chairman and Managing Director

Nair joined Union Bank of India as Chairman and Managing Director. He is credited with a number of initiatives that have taken the bank to historic heights.

• Increase in Business – When Nair joined Union Bank of India in 2006, the bank’s business was Rs. 1,28,700 crore (US $ 29.61 bn). As of Sept 30, 2010 the banks total business was over Rs. 3,04,000 crore (US $ 68.23 bn).

• CBS (Core Banking Solutions) – Under Nair’s leadership, Union Bank was the first large public sector bank which achieved 100% CBS i.e. fully computerizing all branches in the bank

• Project Nav Nirman - In 2006, Nair initiated “Project Nav Nirman”, transforming the bank into a customer centric marketing organization by leveraging technology, changing processes and empowering people.

• Overseas Banking – in 2007, Union Bank began its foray into the international scene by opening its first overseas branch, in Hong Kong. Subsequently, the bank has opened representative offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney and London.

• Joint Ventures: The Bank entered into Life Insurance business through joint venture with Bank of India and Dai Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Corp, Japan. The company, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. commenced operations in Feb, 2009. The Bank has also entered into a JV with KBC Asset Management, Belgium and setup a Asset Management Company. The AMC is expected to commence operations in January 2011.

• Human Resources: Recognizing HR as a critical element, Nair emphasized on large scale recruitment, bringing down the average age of employees and re-skilling the frontline staff through Dale Carnegie Institute. He introduced fast-track career progression, an in-house management development programme - a precursor for succession planning

• Brand Building – in 2008, brand building exercise was initiated by Nair. The bank’s logo was changed and a successful advertising campaign was launched. This resulted in the bank’s brand value increasing by 148% (2009).

Corporate Social Responsibility

During his tenure as Chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association, Mr. Nair worked tirelessly to ensure that banks work out a strategy to facilitate branchless banking in villages. Passionate about financial inclusion, he has relentlessly pushed for increase in the number of business correspondents to penetrate banking services in the hinterland.

Under Nair’s leadership, some of the socially important activities undertaken by the bank were:-

• Adoption of 103 villages in 4 different States for comprehensive development, mainly working as catalyst in bringing initiatives from Government and Development agencies. The bank also supplemented development efforts through funding development projects like Clean energy, drinking water facility, improvement of rural schools, etc.

• One girl child was adopted by the bank in each of these villages who are in the primary school and has set aside facilities for their upbringing and overall maintenance till they pass out of High School.

• Active support provided to the Cancer patients Aids Association, Mumbai for the last 10 years and has supported the annual events for fund raising – Khazana.

• Support provided to the Cochin Child Foundation with a grant of Rs 6 lacs for carrying out various initiatives for improving the quality of life of children.

• Support provided to the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti popularly known for Jaipur Foot with a grant of Rs.10 lacs.

Nair was appointed Chairman, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2009-2010. During this period, as Chairman of the wage negotiation committee, IBA successfully concluded the long pending bipartite settlement with the joint forum of unions.

Personal life

M.V.Nair married his wife Indu, on 20 October 1983. They are blessed with one daughter, Vidhya and one son, Aditya. Both are engineers.

Present Ongoing Assignments

• Chairman, Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL) (2011 present appointed on 12oct 2011

• Chairman,Committee on Priority Sector Lending constituted by Reserve Bank of India (2011- Present)

• Chairman, Union KBC Asset Management Company (2010–Present)

• Director, General Insurance Corporation (GIC) Re (2009–Present)

• Member, Managing Committee, Indian Banks' Association (Mumbai)

• Chairman of the Governing Board, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) (2009–Present)

• Vice President of Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF) & Chairman of the its Executive Committee, (2008 – Present)

• Member, Governing Council of Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) established by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India (2010–Present)

• Member of the Governing Council, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT)

• Member, Governing Board, National Institute of Bank Management(NIBM) (2008–Present)

• College Advisory Committee of Reserve Bank of India, College of Agricultural Banking, Pune

• Chairman, Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, Federation of Indian Chanbers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) (2010 – Present)

• Member, Committee on Customer Services in Banks constituted by Reserve Bank of India (June 2010 – Present)

• Member, Study Group to examine various alternative models for establishing ICT based mobile banking service centers for inclusive banking in the country constituted by Planning Commission, Government of India (2009 – Present)

• Member, High Level Committee to deliberate emergent issues concerning global development in the country constituted by Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India (2010 – Present)

• Director, Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) Ltd (2006 – present)

• Member, Committee to monitory flow of dollar Export Credit to Exporters constituted by Government of India (2009 – Present)

Past Contributions

• Chairman, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) (2009–2010)

• Chairman, Wage Negotiation Committee, Indian Banks’ Association (2008–2010)

• Member, Sub-Group on Financial Services under the High Level Group on Services Sector, constituted by Planning Commission, Government of India (2007–2008)

• Member, Primary Markets Advisory Committee, set up by Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (2009–2010)

• Ex-Officio Member, Board of Trustees, CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises) (2009–2010)

• Member, National Board of Accreditation, All India Council for Technical Education (2008–2010).

• Member, Committee for conducting study of HR issues of Public Sector Banks constituted by Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2009–2010)

• Member, High Powered Committee to review the Lead bank Scheme, set up by Reserve Bank of India (2007–2009)

Prominent Conferences Attended

• World Economic Forum, Inaugural meeting of the New Champions at Dalian, China, 2007

• SIBOS 2006 (Sydney, Australia), 2007 (Boston, USA), 2008 (Vienna, Austria, 2010 (Toronto, Canada)

• Annual Meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Istanbul, Turkey (2009)

• Workshop on Promoting Financial Inclusion through Innovative Policies, organized by Asian Development Bank, Tokyo (Japan) (2009)

• Speaker, “Growing role of Asia in the financial stage”, Asia Europe Business Forum (AEBF) at Brussels, Belgium (2010)

• 1st international conference of overseas offices, Hong Kong

• Addressed HK Invest conference in Hong Kong in Sept’10 – Speakers included Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

• Addressed members of the Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong in Sept’10 on Current state of Banking Sector in India and its future

Awards and Accolades

• Best Manager Award, Indian Management Association (IMA) (1984)

• Best Corporate Excellence Award, IIM- Ahmedabad (2000)

• Finalist, Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year, 2008”

• Global Award 2008, Kerala Kalakendram

• Winner of Skoch Challenger Award in Banking for relentlessly pursuing financial inclusion goals and driving branchless banking to penetrate banking services into the hinterland – (March 2010)

• Certificate of recognition by ICSI (Institute of Company Secretaries of India) as National Award for excellence in Corporate Governance for adopting good Corporate Governance practices (December 2010).