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RBI asks all banks to send employees in sensitive positions on surprise 10 day leave

Last Updated on July 10, 2021 at 3:09 pm

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has shot off a circular to banks asking them to send employees in sensitive positions to be sent on compulsory surprise leave for at least ten days every year.

RBI has asked the banks to send these employees on leave without prior intimation and not allot any work to them during leave period.

“As a prudent operational risk management measure, the banks should put in place a ‘mandatory leave’ policy wherein the employees posted in sensitive positions or areas of operation should 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,” the central bank said.

According to the RBI, banks should ensure that employees, while on ‘mandatory leave’, do not have access to any physical or virtual resources related to their work responsibilities, with the exception of internal or corporate email which is usually available to all employees for general purposes.

In 2015, the RBI had said treasury, currency chests, risk modelling and model validation should be covered under a ‘Mandatory Leave’ policy.