# Fino Payments Bank extends interim CEO tenure by 3 months 2026-08-27T12:42:40+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Fino Payments Bank has extended the tenure of interim CEO Ketan Merchant by three months from August 27, 2026, subject to RBI approval. The decision was taken by the board's Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Merchant was appointed interim CEO in February after the arrest of managing director and CEO Rishi Gupta by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) for alleged use of shell companies and payment aggregators to funnel illicit funds from online money gaming. Prior to this role, Merchant was the bank's chief financial officer. The RBI had last approved Merchant's tenure extension from May 27, 2026, for three months. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The ongoing reliance on an interim CEO at Fino Payments Bank highlights governance challenges stemming from the DGGI crackdown on GST evasion in online gaming. RBI typically expects a bank to have a full-time CEO within a reasonable period, repeated extensions suggest difficulty in finding a candidate or unresolved regulatory issues. The case also underscores the banking sector's exposure to compliance risks from new-age digital payment and gaming firms. The next development to watch is the RBI's decision on the latest extension request and whether the bank announces a permanent CEO search. The ongoing reliance on an interim CEO at Fino Payments Bank highlights governance challenges stemming from the DGGI crackdown on GST evasion in online gaming. The case underscores the banking sector's exposure to compliance risks from new-age digital payment and gaming firms. The next development to watch is the RBI's decision on the latest extension request. ## Coverage - hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com Straight news agency style reporting of a regulatory filing, no slant. This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: DGGI, Fino Payments Bank, Ketan Merchant, RBI, Rishi Gupta Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/fino-payments-bank-extends-interim-ceo-tenure-by-3-months/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/fino-payments-bank-extends-interim-ceo-tenure-by-3-months/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/