MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to give a 10-day mandatory leave to employees working in sensitive positions like treasury operations and currency chests under modified risk management guidelines.
“As a prudent operational risk management measure, the banks shall put in place 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, without giving any prior intimation to these employees, thereby maintaining an element of surprise,” said RBI in a notification on Friday.
RBI has given banks six months to comply with these directions.
It asked banks to ensure that employees, while on ‘mandatory leave’, do not have access to physical or virtual resources related to their work responsibilities, with the exception of internal/ corporate email which is usually available to all employees for general purposes.
Banks should also put in place a board-approved policy, prepare a list of sensitive positions to be covered under ‘mandatory leave’ requirements and review the list periodically. The implementation of this policy shall be reviewed under the supervisory process, the central ban said.
Mandatory leave for staff was first introduced in May 2011 after the RBI saw a sharp increase in frauds in banks following forensic studies. In a circular dated April 2015, it was clarified that staff working in sensitive positions or areas of operations in a bank, including treasury, currency chests, risk modelling, model validation, be asked to go on surprise leave.
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