The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to come up with board-approved policies to send employees posted in sensitive areas on a mandatory leave of at least 10 days during a year.
The leave would be given without any prior intimation.
"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," the RBI said in a circular.
The central bank has said that banks shall ensure that the 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.
The RBI, in its earlier guideline on the issue in April 2015, had not clearly specified the number of days for the mandatory surprise leave, though it said it could be "a few days (say 10 working days)".
Banks, as per a board-approved policy, have been asked to prepare a list of sensitive positions to be covered under 'mandatory leave' requirements and also review the list periodically. Implementation of this policy shall be reviewed under the supervisory process.
As per the April 2015 circular, sensitive positions or areas of operations covered under the 'mandatory leave' policy include treasury, currency chests, risk modelling, and model validation.
RBI said that the revised instructions shall be applicable to all the banks and they shall comply with these instructions within six months from the date of issue of the circular.