Coronavirus: RBI says banking services should not be disrupted

RBI today asked banks to put in business continuity measures to prevent any disruption of services, due to absenteeism either driven by the individual cases of infections or preventive measures

The Reserve Bank of India today asked banks to take measures and put in place business continuity plans to prevent any disruption of services due to coronavirus outbreak. "Several confirmed cases have also been detected in India, which highlight the need of a co-ordinated strategy for handling the emerging situations for protecting the resilience of the Indian financial system," RBI said in a statement.

The RBI asked banks to take these measures as part of their existing operational and business continuity plans, according to the central bank's statement released today:

1) Banks have been asked to devise strategy and monitoring mechanism concerning the spread of the disease within the organisation, making timely interventions for preventing further spread in case of detection of infected employees including travel plans and quarantine requirements.

28 Months over 50 round talk completed till today no hope of 11th bipartite

Once again the devil is on the shoulders.The small committee meeting with IBA on 16/03/2020,began with the discussion on load factor ended without any fruitful decision.UFBU had decided to meet shortly to crystallize the approach in the light of the talks on 16/03/2020.

UFBU had earlier deferred the 3 day strike slated in March, based on the "positive developments" on February 29th meeting.We don't know what transpired in the negotiations.Nothing has moved forward, other than 15% increase on pay.

We don't know what plan IBA is having in its mind,with respect to bipartite talks.Even after 50 rounds of talks, spanning 28 months,negotiations are dragging on and on, without any rhyme or reason.IBA has so far not rejected any demands outrightly.Right from 5 day banking to pensioners' issues ,IBA simply says that it will consider and the matter will be expedited.IBA is chanting the same slogan again and again.

Somewhere in the bottom line,IBA,has sensed that the constituents of UFBU are very much divided among themselves on many issues.Though they attend the talks together ,they don't have a unified purpose.UFBU lacks the vigour and vitality needed to
achieve the genuine demands of 10 lakhs bankmen. At the same time they have also not fell apart.So far so good.For a normal banker,it appears that both IBA and UFBU are not serious in carrying out their respective tasks entrusted upon them by the bankmen and the government.We don't know how the bipartite talks will move forward.We feel a sense of stagnation in the talks.

Meanwhile,we don't know what will be the fate of AIBEA's 27th March strike against merger of PSBs.It is likely that the strike may be called off due to "coronavirus issue."If the strike is withdrawn ,it is only a good thing .Who wants this strike now.

However ,as decided by UFBU,at least now they will have to sit together and discuss and cobble together ,every pending issue right from 5 day banking,demanding more than 15% increase,spl.allowance merger and last but not the least,the pensioners updation issue .We hope that at least now,UFBU will come out with a definite
set of achievable demands,and exhibit their solidarity at the forthcoming wage talks.Though we are all dejected and in deep agony,we are relying on the supernatural virtue of hope.

TODAY'S SMALL COMMITTEE MEETING UPDATION

 Dear Comrades,
Today small committee meeting with IBA took place at Mumbai. IBA led by Shri Alok Kumar Choudhary, DMD SBI. All constituents of UFBU participated. Discussion on load factor on Basic Pay after DA merger and it's impact on Superannuation cost was deliberated. Discussion remained inconclusive. UFBU would meet shortly to crystallize our approach in the light of today's discussion with IBA.
Regards. BANDLISH

BANK FRAUD AND TOTAL NPA NEAR ABOUT DOUBLE SINCE MODI CAME TO POWER

Banks operating in India have written off bad loans worth Rs 660 thousand crore since 2014, as per RBI data studied by NewsClick. The quantum of loans that were written off amounts to half of the total non-performing assets or bad loans that were recorded in the financial books of the banks.

Data published by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also shows that as much as Rs. 237 thousand crore was written off from the financial books of the banks in financial year 2018-19 alone.

The graph shown below charts the steep rise in the amount being written off, often referred by banks as technical write-offs, allowing them to clean up their books, as the banks fail to recover the loans.

According to the RBI data, NPAs or bad loans on the financial books of banks have also seen a steep rise ever since 2014 – also the year the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came to power at the Centre.

The total NPAs in 2013-14 amounted Rs. 205 thousand crore, which rose to a whopping Rs 1,173 thousand crore in 2018-2019. This steep rise in NPAs is shocking, especially under the watch of party that promised in its 2014 election manifesto that it would “take necessary steps to reduce NPAs in banking sector.”

Zooming Bank Fraud Cases

During the same period, the cases of bank frauds also saw a steep rise. Cases of frauds of more than Rs 1 lakh stood at 4,306 in 2012-13, and rose to 6,801 in 2018-19.

Money Sunk in Bank Fraud Cases

As the number of bank fraud cases increased, so did the amount of money sunk owing to these frauds. According to RBI’s annual report for 2018-19, the amount sunk in March 2013 due to bank frauds was Rs. 10.2 thousand crore, which rose to a shocking Rs 71.5 thousand crore in March 2018.

The impact of rising bad loans and growing cases of bank frauds is already being felt by depositors, the latest example being the collapse of private sector Yes Bank. In on of the biggest ever bank failures in the country, the private lender collapsed, forcing RBI to impose a moratorium on the private lender on March 5. The beleaguered bank is now set to be bailed out with State Bank of India (SBI) being the lead rescuer, along with some private banks.

Often referred by the industry experts, analysts and bank employees’ unions as the reason behind the ‘scrambling’ Indian banking industry, the rising NPAs, written off bad loans, bank fraud cases, paint a sorry picture for the future of the Indian banking system.

Fm has no idea about PSU bank this type of irresponsible statement unexpected

A lady who might have her account in Private Banks is giving lecture on PSB and representing the only PSB which is too big to fail as A heartless bank.

A lady who is always on AC rooms, AC Cars, is giving lecture that PSBs don't provide personal touch to customers. The ratio of public sector banker to customer is 1:2000. After giving his best, resolving customer issues in rural branches where even AC/Fans dont even work properly, they get to listen PSBs don't provide personal touch to customers.

When PSBs were suffering loss, Finance minister after discussion with RBI governer(MA in history) orders to merge banks and reduce the number. But when a Private Sector Bank totally goes into crisis and unable to stand on its own, the same Finance Minister asks The Heartless Bank to revive that Private Bank and urges govt department not to take their deposits to PSB.

What is this happening in the economy? What does the FM wants from herself? What does the FM wants from bankers?
Does she wants us to do frauds at bank level in the name of doing KYC without documents?
Does she wants us to do frauds at bank level in the name of rubbish policies of giving loans to everyone who don't even deserve a penny?

Sorry Mrs Finance Minister, we don't want you and you don't deserve us. If you are not able to do your job, not able to understand the finance, not able to understand the situation of economy. Kindly step down. We deserve better. At least not you.
Taken from a WhatsApp friend forward

11 TH BIPARTITE UPDATION FROM BEFI OFFICE BEARERS MEETING

AXIS BANK, DEUTSCHE bank asked two-thirds of employees in its headquarters to work from home for corona virus

Banks such as Axis Bank, Deutsche Bank and Japanese lender MUFG have taken unprecedented steps in their day-to-day functioning to reduce the risk from the coronavirus outbreak.

Axis Bank has invoked its emergency business continuity plan (BCP) and asked two-thirds of employees in its headquarters to work from home. Deutsche Bank has asked some of its employees to not come to office. The Reserve Bank of India has also freezed overseas travel for its officials.

“We have activated BCP for our headquarters on Thursday morning. On Wednesday, all department heads were told that two-thirds of employees won’t be allowed in the building. So, we have one-third people today. Employees can connect from home and if they need to connect to the bank’s system, they can do so through the nearest branch,” said executive director Rajesh Dahiya, who heads a special disaster prevention committee constituted by Axis Bank to take precautionary measures.

Deutsche Bank has asked some people to work from home while they can selectively meet clients within the city of Mumbai. Employees engaged in operations are in offices to ensure smooth functioning of the system. “We have enacted business continuity procedures in some of our locations, including having some of our colleagues in critical functions work from our business continuity site and some others from home,” a spokesperson said.

Citibank India is testing its contingency plan as it wants to see how services are working if people work from home. Citi India will likely issue a directive to employees soon, people in the know said. As in its overseas offices, local employees will also likely be asked to work from home, barring those in select operations. The bank did not reply to ET’s email seeking comment.

MUFG has applied some emergency protocols. “MUFG is closely monitoring the Covid-19 outbreak and has implemented precautionary measures, including travel advisories, minimisation of face-to-face meetings and prevention of large group gatherings,” said Shashank Joshi, its head of global corporate banking for India.

Dahiya said Axis was also using this as a test case to see what was the minimum number of people required in an emergency situation. “There is no threat now but I want to see if there is a spread how many people are required. Next Monday, we plan to work with only 10% people in the headquarters,” he said. “Right now, we are assuming it as a crisis. This is the largest scale we have ever done. Risk here is human beings and by reducing people I am reducing risk.”