Five-day work for StanChart staff

Standard Chartered Bank employees would work five days a week from September 1, a move which, the foreign lender said, aimed at ensuring work-life balance among the staffers. All the 5,500 employees in the consumer bank division would come under the new work schedule. The bank started implementing the five-day week in phases. In the first phase, 2,000 staff in the wholesale banking, corporate divisions and support functions came under the norm. The bank has, however, ensured its business hours continues to be the same and the “customer delivery” is not affected.

Indian Bank revises deposit rates

Indian Bank on Tuesday revised interest rates on fixed deposits, effective from September 1. Interest rates on term deposits of tenure one to less than three years have been revised to 9%. Fixed deposits of 3-5 years would now draw an interest rate of 8.75%. A maturity period of over five years would attract a rate at 8.5%. The short-term deposit rates of tenure 180-364 days and 91-179 days has been fixed at 7% and 6.5%, respectively.

PSU banks face staff crunch at senior levels

Mumbai-based Bank of India, faced with an impending talent crunch at the top, has started grooming 70 assistant general managers and deputy general managers to takeover from the current crop of general managers, all of whom would retire by 2012. With one in every eight public sector bank officials set to retire over the next three years, public sector banks would soon be hard-pressed to fill the vacuum in their senior managements. While 13 per cent of the 2.5 lakh officers currently employed would retire over the next three years, only 8.7 per cent of the 4.7 lakh clerks and sub-staff would reach the end of their service by then. The departure of a large number of officers for greener pastures, has only added to the woes of these banks. A K Khandelwal, chairman and managing director, Bank of Baroda, had estimated that public sector banks were losing 1,000 officers every year to their private and foreign counterparts. “Why should all the public sector banks have the same salary structure. They should be allowed to target cost to income ratio and the board can then decide on the salary structure. They should also be allowed to give employees’ stock options,” M V Nair, chairman and managing director, Union Bank of India, said.

Banking services at doorsteps

The District Collector, Mr S.S. Jawahar, launched ‘Canara Gramin Vikas Vahini’ scheme at Thottiyapatti village, 40 km West of Madurai recently, in an effort to take banking services to doorsteps in remote villages, under a nationwide scheme initiated in June. Executed through a van service equipped with public address system, the branch manager travelling in the van has the authority to sanction spot loans for eligible candidates, who could come and collect the amount the next day at a nearest branch, according to Mr Murugaprabhu, Senior Manager, Canara Bank. Apart from carrying requisite forms to open bank accounts and pamphlets on different schemes, the van will carry the latest farming techniques developed by agricultural colleges. The villages would be intimated in advance of the visit and would operate on a fixed schedule, round the year.