RBI to Banks: Send staff in sensitive operations on a 10-day surprise leave

Under amended risk management rules, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to provide workers working in sensitive positions such as treasury operations and currency chests with a 10-day mandatory leave.

According to the RBI in a notification, "as a prudent operational risk management measure, banks shall implement a 'mandatory leave' policy under which 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 providing any prior intimation to these employees, thereby retaining an element of surprise."

Furthermore, RBI has offered banks six months to abide by these instructions.

As per that, it is requested that the banks ensure that employees on "mandated leave" do not have access to physical or virtual resources linked to their work obligations, with the exception of internal/corporate email, which is often available to all employees for general purposes.

Moreover, banks should also implement a board-approved policy, create a list of critical positions to be covered by "mandated leave," and review the list on a regular basis. The central bank stated that the execution of this policy will be examined as part of the supervisory process.

In fact, mandatory vacation for employees was initially implemented in May 2011 after the RBI discovered a significant spike in bank frauds following forensic investigations. It was clarified in an April 2015 circular that workers working in sensitive roles or areas of operations of a bank, such as treasury, currency chests, risk modelling, and model validation, could be ordered to go on unexpected leave.