Emotional intelligence has emerged as a crucial determinant of leadership effectiveness, employee performance, organisational commitment, and workplace harmony in contemporary organisations.

In the banking sector, employees and leaders operate in highly competitive, customer-oriented, and stressful environments. Therefore, emotionally intelligent leadership has become increasingly important for institutional success.

The present study adopts a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership style in the banking sector.

The review includes research studies published between 2010 and 2025. These studies were collected from databases such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, Emerald, Springer, Wiley Online Library, SAGE, Taylor & Francis, and Google Scholar.

A systematic screening process was followed. It included identification of studies, removal of duplicates, relevance screening, abstract review, and full-text analysis.

Initially, 210 documents were identified. After screening, 50 high-quality studies were selected for final review.

The findings show a strong positive relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership.

Emotionally intelligent leaders were found to improve employee motivation, organisational commitment, workplace communication, conflict management, and customer satisfaction.

The review also identified key research gaps in regional banking sectors, demographic influences, comparative banking studies, and emotional intelligence dimensions in Indian banking institutions, especially in Chhattisgarh.

The study concludes that emotional intelligence is a key determinant of leadership competence in contemporary banking organisations. It also provides a robust conceptual foundation for future empirical research in regional banking contexts.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Style, Transformational Leadership, Banking Sector, Organisational Behaviour, Employee Performance, Leadership Effectiveness.