State-run banks to get autonomy in appointment of auditors

State-run banks would get autonomy in selection and appointment Statutory Central Auditors (SCAs) from next financial year.

At the moment, auditors are being appointed by a panel headed by Additional Secretary of Department of Financial Services, Indian Banks' Association Chairman and representative of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

"In order to give autonomy to the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) on the issue of selection and appointment of SCAs, the work of selection and appointment of SCAs henceforth, has been delegated to individual PSBs for the year 2014-15 onwards," an official statement said on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will provide the selection criteria for selecting SCAs to PSBs, it said.

"The office of CAG will provide the list of eligible auditors available with them and PSBs can make selection out of the list with the prior approval of RBI," the statement added.

Number of statutory auditors varies based on the size of the balance sheet of a bank.

State Bank of India had 14 statutory auditors for the financial year 2013-14, Punjab National Bank had 6 statutory auditors while United Bank of India had 4 auditors.