Send bank staff in sensitive operations on leave without intimation: RBI

As a prudent risk management measure, banks should have a 'mandatory leave' policy with an element of surprise, apex bank says. The revised norms repeal the circular of April 23, 2015

Bankers working in sensitive positions, including treasury operations and currency chests, will get a surprise holiday of at least 10 working days in a single spell every year under the modified risk management guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

As a prudent operational risk management measure, banks should have a “mandatory leave” policy wherein the employees posted in “sensitive positions or areas of operation shall be compulsorily sent on leave for a few days (not less than 10 working days) in a single spell every year”, the RBI said in a notification on Friday. This should be done “without giving any prior intimation to these employees, thereby maintaining an element of surprise”, it added.

The RBI gave banks six months to comply with these instructions. The revised norms repeal the circular dated April 23, 2015.

Banks have been told to ensure that the employees, while on “mandatory leave”, do not have access to any physical or virtual resources related to their work, with the only exception being internal/corporate email, which is usually available to all employees for general purposes. Banks will also prepare a list of sensitive positions to be covered under “mandatory leave” requirements and the list will be reviewed periodically. The implementation of this policy will be reviewed under the supervisory process. 

Sensitive positions or areas of operations covered under the 'mandatory leave' policy include treasury, currency chests, risk modelling, and model validation, ac­co­rding to the 2015 circular.