From being a mere "link-office" between the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India on the one hand and the banking industry on the other, the premier bankers' body will metamorphose itself into an industry association in 48 weeks once it starts implementing the Arthur Andersen recommendations.

The IBA has constituted a panel, headed by Standard Chartered Bank CEO Martin Fish, to give final touches to the consultancy firm's recommendations. Others panel members include State Bank of India deputy managing directory Y Radhakrishnan and Bank of India general manager PS Shenoy, among others.

"The final presentation was made before the IBA management committee on Saturday. Wewill start implementing the recommendations once the panel gives its okay by the first week of August. IBA will change its role in the next 48 weeks," IBA chief executive officer MN Dandekar said.

"We do not want to act merely as an interface between the government and banks. We would like to play a pro-active role on the lines of British Bankers' Association," Dandekar said.

He said that IBA losely examined the CII model and interacted with all trade bodies while deciding on the "goal" and "role" of the organisation.

CII has traditionally been a major lobbying power-centre. And over the years it has become a key player in policy formulation. Early this year, CII was keen on enrolling banks and other financial intermediaries as its members, since the body felt that it did not have the required focus on the financial sector as it had, for instance, on engineering and manufacturing sectors.

IBA chairman AT Pannir Selvam is in favour of greater interaction with various trade bodies all over theworld.

Along with the change in role, IBA will also put in place a new organisational structure. The present secretary will be called secretary general. "We will build a strong team in due course," Dandekar said.

The 52-year-old association is the premier bankers' body in the country, with membership over 120. Traditionally, its primary role has been brokering wage deals for the banking industry.

IBA covers all public sector and old private-sector banks, barring Bank of Madura. Even the new-generation private-sector banks, which initially shied away from becoming IBA members, have started joining the organisation. They were left with no choice but to join the IBA as otherwise they could not take part in the association-run shared payment network system (SPNS) in Mumbai.