Officers’ union AIBOC resolves not to sign ‘turnaround’ plan for 10 banks

The bank officers’ fraternity met at SBIOA House in Kolkata on Friday to discuss the finance department’s ‘turnaround plan’ proposal of 10 banks.

These 10 banks have been identified as ones where capital infusion by the government in future would be conditional.

The banks are: IDBI Bank, Bank of India, UCO Bank, Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, United Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India. The government is understood to have asked the unions and associations in these banks to sign an agreement for the ‘turnaround plan’.

The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) has resolved not to sign the proposal put forth by the government, instead negotiate for a “more viable and practical” plan.

Stating that it is unfair to ask the unions/associations to take responsibility for a turnaround when they have not been party to decisions, Thomas Franco, General Secretary, AIBOC, said: “Employees have practically no role in the government’s policy and credit decisions. The entire banking industry is facing the menace of NPA (Non-Performing Asset) because of environmental factors, and a major portion of the NPA are big-ticket loans, which include corporates and infrastructure projects. The credit decisions in such cases are not taken by the employees. It is, therefore, not fair to shift the onus of responsibility on the employees.”

“There is also a condition on realignment/reorientation of perquisites of employees and officers in the said 10 banks till they turnaround,” Franco said.

“Even if all the officers and employees forego their salaries and perquisites for a year, it will not help turnaround the banks. It is, therefore, meaningless to target employees and officers.”

The AIBOC has alternatively assured to recover smaller NPAs (wherever possible) through follow up, while demanding the government to publish the names of wilful defaulters and initiating stringent action against big-ticket (loan) defaulters.

“The demand for credit is huge in rural and semi-urban areas. This should be addressed not withstanding the need to strengthen finance support to smaller borrowers.

“The focus should be on NPA recovery instead of the push to cross-sell. Unnecessary travel expenses can be postponed, extravagant expenses can be reduced without touching staff expenses, and so on,” Franco said.

The meeting resolved to impress upon the government the need for an immediate meeting with the unions/associations, appointment of officer/employee directors on the board of banks, implementation of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on NPA and release of compensation for the expenditure incurred in opening 27 crore Jan Dhan accounts and opportunity cost due to demonetisation.

COMMENT NOW