The Great Bank Bust-Up ; When the Reserve Bank of India Downed the Shutters On United Western Bank in Early September, One More Old Private Sector Bank Bit the Dust. Many More Are Teetering On the Brink of Bankruptcy.

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"To say that the banking industry is undergoing transition or change is an understatement. The pressures of competition are so high that changes now are not limited to interest rates or the margins only. They go much beyond that-to the extent of even redefining the role of banking and the very way of performing it."

This prophetic proclamation made a couple of years ago is of none other than Satish Kashinath Marathe, Chairman & CEO, United Western Bank (UWB). In early September, the ailing UWB was shut down by the Reserve Bank of India, and last fortnight the apex bank decreed that the Satara-headquartered bank would be merged into public sector bank, IDBI. Marathe, a law graduate and a former treasurer of the BJP's Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, probably didn't envision that it would be UWB that would undergo the "transition" and become a victim of "the pressures of competition". After all, Marathe appeared to have big plans for his bank, which are evident in his concluding observations in the same speech. "UWB is reaching out to customers in their homes, offices and even shops through various delivery channels like ATMs, internet banking, debit cards, kiosks and so on. The bank believes that there is no substitute for personal relationship banking. It's the face behind the technology that will always symbolise the bank."

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The Great Bank Bust-Up ; When the Reserve Bank of India Downed the Shutters On United Western Bank in Early September, One More Old Private Sector Bank Bit the Dust. Many More Are Teetering On the Brink of Bankruptcy.

One would have been tempted to have faith in Marathe's dream for UWB, only if he hadn't quietly exited in July. By then, UWB's net worth had turned negative, and losses piled up to Rs 200 crore- plus. Marathe, who might have well read the writing on the wall, was lucky he could bail out in time. But the bank, its depositors and investors weren't. UWB might be the latest in a string of banks that has gone belly up, but the pattern is such that few CEOs acknowledge the extent of the rot that has set in-until the 11th-and-a-half hour. The question reverberating in corridors of the Rs 36,10,500- crore banking industry today is: After UWB, who? Call it a paradox or a quirk of fate: Even as the financial services sect...

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