L NSuresh
Deputy General Manager and Chief Internal Auditor, Central Bank of India. I've spent 39 years with the Bank, from the front desk of a branch in Krishnagiri to heading internal audit for the Chennai Zone.
India taught me banking. But banking taught me India.
About
In 39 years at Central Bank of India, I've worked across almost every part of banking: branch operations, regional leadership, corporate strategy, emerging business, and audit and governance.
Today I head the Internal Audit Vertical of the Bank's Chennai Zone, overseeing risk, compliance and institutional controls. Before that, in Mumbai, I handled the Bank's emerging business: co-lending, pool buyouts, TReDS, supply chain finance, capital market services, bancassurance and wealth management.
The work has taken me from Kanpur to Mumbai, from Durgapur to Coimbatore, and through quiet small towns in between. Every transfer turned out to be a discovery.
What I do
Audit and governance
Building and strengthening internal audit and control functions, and the governance frameworks around them.
Risk and compliance
Finding, analysing and resolving systemic business risks, and advising on risk assessment and compliance.
Business strategy
Business profitability, credit monitoring and organisational capability, built up over years of running branches and regions.
Operations at scale
Running and improving operations across many locations and zones, and making business processes more efficient.
Career
- 2025 – nowChennaiDeputy General Manager / Chief Internal AuditorHeading the Internal Audit Vertical of Chennai Zone
- 2023 – 2025MumbaiDeputy General ManagerCo-lending, pool buyouts, TReDS, capital market services, bancassurance and wealth management
- 2021 – 2023AhmedabadRegional Head (Deputy General Manager)Head of the Region
- 2019 – 2021CoimbatoreRegional Head (Assistant General Manager)
- 2018 – 2019DurgapurRegional Head (Assistant General Manager)
- 2017 – 2018VisakhapatnamAssistant General ManagerHead of the Mid Corporate Branch
- 2015 – 2017ChennaiChief ManagerHead of the Bank's Main Branch in Chennai, a very large branch
- 2013 – 2015ChennaiChief ManagerCorporate Finance Branch: credit, monitoring and operations
- 2012 – 2013ChennaiSenior ManagerPlanning and development, recovery and general administration at Zonal Office
- 2010 – 2012Andhra, Telangana and KarnatakaSenior Manager, Internal Audit
- 2009 – 2010VelacheryBranch HeadHead of a newly opened branch
- 2008 – 2009GuindyBranch HeadHead of the MSME specialised branch
- 2008ChennaiManagerBudgeting, planning and development, and new initiatives in third-party products
- 2007 – 2008Periamet, ChennaiBranch HeadHead of the branch
- 2004 – 2007PettaivaithalaiBranch HeadHead of the branch during the mandatory rural posting
- 2003 – 2004ChennaiAssistant ManagerHR department at Regional Office
- 2002 – 2003GuindyAssistant ManagerOperations, liabilities and assets at the SSI branch
- 1997 – 2002KanpurAssistant ManagerHuman Resources Development department at Regional Office
- 1992 – 1997ChennaiFront Desk ClerkAdministrative office
- 1987 – 1992KrishnagiriFront Desk ClerkFront office operations, in the days of manual ledgers
Education
- CAIIBIndian Institute of Banking and Finance
- B.Com, Accounting and FinanceUniversity of Madras
Writing
August 2026
23 years later, in Chandigarh
Meeting my first Regional Head and mentor again, and what he gave a young officer in Kanpur.
June 2026
39 years. Countless cities. One incredible journey.
On completing 39 years with the Bank: the cities, the setbacks, and the people who stood by me.