Independent Director Financial Services

Gladwin International & Company · India

Company: Confidential listed, regulated microfinance and small-business lender

Board base: Patna, Bihar, with operating reviews in eastern and central India

Sector: Microfinance, group lending and small-enterprise credit

Appointment: Independent Director, Non-Executive

Intended committees: Board Risk Committee Chair; member, Audit and Customer Service Committees

Time commitment: 34–42 days annually, including branch, centre-meeting and control-function reviews

Application deadline: 12 September 2026

Expected appointment: October - December 2026

Company context

The institution provides small-ticket unsecured loans, predominantly to diversity borrowers, through field officers, group meetings, branches and digital collection channels. It is diversifying into individual micro-enterprise loans while funding growth through banks, debt markets and securitisation. Borrower indebtedness, local disruption, field conduct, collections, liquidity and credit-cost volatility are central risks.

Board mandate

The director will ensure that growth is supported by borrower capacity, field integrity, liquidity and truthful portfolio recognition. Social purpose must be demonstrated through customer outcomes and conduct, not used to excuse weak credit or collections.

Strategic priorities

1. Establish risk appetite by geography, branch, product, borrower indebtedness, lender overlap, ticket size, vintage, officer and collection mode.
2. Require household cash-flow and repayment-capacity evidence; challenge bureau completeness, multiple borrowing, proxy loans and group pressure.
3. Track conduct through centre observation, complaints, staff incentives, rescheduling, collections, recovery visits, third parties and vulnerable-customer outcomes.
4. Distinguish genuine collection, advance payment, refinancing, evergreening, moratorium, settlement and write-off at borrower level.
5. Build early warning for local political action, weather, migration, health, commodity, fraud and community resistance.
6. Govern branch cash, digital payments, customer receipts, officer accounts, reconciliation, ghost borrowers and identity manipulation.
7. Stress-test liquidity across bank lines, market borrowing, securitisation, collection shock, covenant, rating migration and collateral requirements.
8. Review expected loss, stage migration, provisioning, write-offs, recoveries, assignment accounting and management overlays with Audit.
9. Stage-gate new products and digital underwriting through pilot evidence, customer understanding, model validation, fraud and collection capability.
10. Protect CRO, compliance, internal audit and grievance functions from business pressure; conduct direct field and borrower listening.

Decisions expected at Board level

• Whether growth in a high-performing district should stop because lender overlap and officer capacity are deteriorating.
• Whether apparent collection strength is supported by borrower cash flow or refinancing and coercion.
• Whether liquidity buffers remain adequate under a multi-state collection shock.
• Whether a new enterprise product is operationally distinct or merely larger unsecured microcredit.
• Whether conduct failure requires compensation, management action or public/regulatory disclosure.

Candidate profile

Essential: Former bank/NBFC/MFI CEO, CRO, credit leader, regulator, development-finance executive or Board director; unsecured credit cycles, field operations, customer protection, liquidity and provisioning; direct experience of stress or conduct remediation.

Eligibility and conflicts

Active IICA Databank inclusion and applicable test/exemption evidence are mandatory. All regulatory fit-and-proper requirements apply. Candidates must disclose lender, investor, borrower-organisation, fintech, credit-bureau, collection, rating, auditor, NGO, government and competitor relationships.

First-year outcomes

• Board risk appetite connected to borrower capacity and field behaviour.
• Independent assurance over collection quality and customer protection.
• Branch-level fraud and cash controls with rapid escalation.
• Liquidity and provisioning tested under severe geographic stress.
• New products launched only after evidence of suitability, control and collection readiness.