Coronavirus impact: Banks to continue IT, treasury, clearing operations

Mumbai: Banks have built contingency plans to ensure that critical IT units for the delivery of digital banking, treasury services and cheque clearing continue even if the coronavirus shutdown intensifies.

However, frontline staff will continue to attend office this month as the last fortnight of the fiscal is the busiest time of the year. “We have put in place contingency plans for branches. If there is a case detected, the branch would have to be closed. We have formed branch clusters where alternative arrangements can be made if required,” said Bank of Baroda HR head Joydeep Dutta Roy.

There will also be directions on limiting the number of people inside a branch to ensure that there is social distancing, he added. An IBA official said the Maharashtra directive requiring 50% employees to work from home (WFH) cannot apply to banks as they come under essential services. Also, most of the tax collection is done through public sector banks.

WFH is also not an option for many central office employees of the 10 public sector banks that are going through a merger process as they have to complete this by March 31.

Meanwhile, non-bank lenders are allowing employees the WFH option. Edelweiss Financial Services has asked all employees to work from home for two weeks and has activated a business continuity plan for staff to operate remotely.All banks are promoting the use of mobile apps. Bank of Baroda has seen a 10% pick-up in the use of digital channels in the last week. Union Bank of India has taken measures to ensure that even if public transportation is discontinued, a skeletal staff is organised to ensure that cheque-clearing operations continue.

Banks have already activated a business continuity plan of splitting IT staff between the main hub and the disaster recovery centre so that operations are not hampered. Other critical areas where the banks are splitting their divisions into two locations are in treasury and forex trading to ensure that money keeps flowing even if there is a slowdown.

SBI, meanwhile, said that it would pay an unspecified allowance to employees for March for purchasing sanitisers and face masks. Other public sector banks may also follow suit.

There have been rumblings among PSB employees who were pushed by managers to achieve year-end targets. Bank of Maharashtra was criticised for pushing staff to achieve insurance sales, while Punjab National Bank Muzzafarnagar office had asked branches to remain open on Sunday to help achieve recovery targets.