Allahabad Bank may get Onkar Nath Singh, executive director of Bank of India, to succeed B Samal who retired as the chairman and managing director in March this year.
Earlier this year, A K Khandelwal, executive director of Bank of Baroda, had declined to accept the post.
Sources close to the development said Singh has agreed to join as the bank's chairman and has sent his consent to the ministry. The new chairman is likely to take charge within 45 days.
The government had shortlisted two possible candidates for the post -- O N Singh and P K Gupta.
Gupta was the executive director of Corporation Bank. The decision to appoint Singh as the chairman was recently taken by the ministry, sources said.
Singh joined BoI from BoB. He assumed office at New York on September 2000 and joined the corporate office of BoI in Mumbai on October 2000.
Prior to this assignment, Singh was general manager in charge of New York operations at Bank of Baroda. Singh is a chartered accountant by qualification.
Allahabad Bank has been headless for almost five months now with executive director K K Rai holding fort. Rai is not eligible for the post chairman because he has less than two years of service needed for selection as chairman.
The other contender was P K Gupta, 56, and a first class commerce and law graduate, working for Corporation Bank from February 2001 as ED. A former Punjab National Bank man, Gupta joined the bank in 1971.