July 26: Nepal Rastra Bank has called the CEO and Board of Directors (BOD) of Sunrise Bank for discussion after the internal dispute between them escalated.

Unsatisfied with the performance of CEO Janak Sharma Poudel, the BOD had decided to seek his resignation. NRB has called both sides for discussion on Sunday after the BOD demanded resignation and Poudel refused to resign.

NRB’s decision to call the bank’s officials in relation to the internal dispute is considered as an intervention by the central bank. The chairman of the bank should have looked after policy and the CEO should have looked at the implementation part. However, NRB intervened after seeing that the dispute between the two parties may get the bank into trouble.

Dev Kumar Dhakal, executive director of the regulatory department of NRB, informed that all parties of the bank will be questioned on Sunday (July 26). “The BOD of Sunrise Bank has demanded the resignation of the CEO. Therefore, we have called both the parties,” he said, adding, “NRB can supervise and discuss with the banks and financial institutions at any time if necessary.”

One side has claimed that the CEO's resignation was demanded as per the decision of the BOD while the other side has claimed that only the dissident group has demanded his resignation.

According to a source close to the bank, some members of BOD (especially Malchand Dugad) were not satisfied with Poudel’s performance.

“The dispute erupted after the chairman of the bank Moti Lal Dugad was in favor of the CEO,” the source said.

In the meantime, CEO Poudel said that there is a internal misunderstanding with the board and there’s no official decision about resignation. “Neither there is an official decision about resignation nor will I resign. It has been a year since I started working. There’s still three years left in the four years tenure. I will take the bank to new heights till the end of my tenure,” Poudel told New Business Age.