Banking industry has now a fairly large number of young officers who

have joined the banking service in last few years or so. They have also
been promoted to Scale II and Scale III in fairly short period as compared
to their seniors who took almost two decades to reach Scale III. This kind
of quick promotions has resulted in postings of Incumbent Incharges who
have no idea of branch working and in depth knowledge of pitfalls once
they have taken charge of the branch. In terms of the guidelines, in most
of the cases, he becomes personally responsible for the lapses of the
previous incumbent, if he / she fails to report such lapses at the time of
charging taking or within the timeframe prescribed. Now, a senior has
come to their rescue and send us the following article. All officers who do
not have much experience of branch incumbency must read this article
carefully so that they face the minimal problems at a later stage. [These
may need some fine tuning based on the internal guidelines of individual
banks]

S
Important Points
No
1 Cash Balances

2
3
4

Action to be taken

Cash balances to be physically verified. It is desirable

that the opening cash is verified, as soon as one
reports at the branch for which he/she has been
designated as the Branch Head. This is to be attended
to, even when his/her predecessor is present at the
branch and is yet to hand over the charge officially.
Apart from branch cash, physical cash inside onsite
ATM is also to be verified. Bait Money and Petty
Cash are also to be checked. A report to this effect is
to be submitted to the controlling office.
Gold Coins
Stock of Gold Coins to be meticulously verified and
any discrepancies found are to be reported to the
controlling office immediately.
Gold Ornaments
Ornaments of Gold Loan Borrowers are to be verified
with the help of the one of the joint custodians or a
Senior Officer staff of the branch.
Physical
securitiesPhysical Securities (usually Bonds and Government
held
Promissory Notes) held on behalf of the Head Office
for SLR and Investment purposes are to be carefully
checked. [Now a days there are minimal chances of
such physical scrips as most of these have been
converted into demat form]
Articles
in
SafeAll articles kept in safe custody like Parcels received
Custody
(meant for delivery to customers), Keys of vacant

Lockers, Term Deposit Receipts yet to be delivered to

the depositors concerned, Term Deposit Receipts held
towards Margin on Bank Guarantees and Letters of
Credit, Term Deposit Receipts pertaining to Deposit
Loans closed, Securities like LIC policies, NSCs,
Shares, Bonds and Debentures of borrowers who have
closed their loans taken by pledging these and Power
of Attorney of Officers are to be verified thoroughly.
6 Duplicate Keys lodgedIf any nearby branch has lodged their duplicate keys
by other branches
of Strong Room and Cash safes with the branch, it is
to be ensured that such packets are intact.
7 Joint Custodian Keys Keys of Strong Room Main Door and Grill, Keys of
Cash Safe and any other safe (for keeping gold
ornaments and other valuables and safe custody
articles), Keys of Double Lock Cabinets (for keeping
Loan Documents and Security Stationery) are to be
physically verified. ATM keys are to be checked
without fail.
8 Duplicate Keys
Certificate obtained for lodging duplicate set of
aforesaid keys with another bank/branch to be
perused. If the keys set was not changed in the last
two years, its better to change the set.
9 Security Stationery
All the security stationery like Demand Drafts, Pay
Orders, CD/SB Cheque Books etc. are to be checked
at random. The stocks must tally with computer
records. Security stationery taken out and currently in
use and issued to customers, but not yet delivered to
them are to be properly accounted for.
10 Debit
Cards,
PINStock of Debit Cards, Debit Cards issued but not yet
Mailers,
Envelopesdelivered to the customers, PIN Mailers and Envelopes
containing
Internetcontaining Internet Passwords of the customers are to
Passwords etc.
be randomly checked.
11 Computer Hardware All Personal Computers, Printers (Laser/Inkjet/Dot
Matrix/Passbook Printers), UPS and Modem/Router to
be inspected and properly accounted for. Warranties
and Annual Maintenance Contracts in force are to be
updated.

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Important Points

Action to be taken

No
12 Computer Software
13

14
15

16
17
18

19
20
21
22

23
24

CDs of all Licensed software (Systems and

Applications Software) to be preserved carefully.
Safety and Security
Burglars Alarm to be checked. Fire Extinguishers and
Fire Alarm to be checked. Other deficiencies and
irregularities reported in the latest report of Security
Inspection to be rectified. Guns and their licences etc
to be verified.
Office Equipments
Air-conditioners, Water Coolers, Token Display, Cash
Counting Machines, Fax and Telephones are to be
checked.
Furniture
All major furniture items to be inspected with the
latest Inventory Jotting. Furniture identified as
unserviceable and fit to be condemned are to be
segregated for further action. Residential furniture of
officers transferred/retired/died are to be marked for
further disposal.
Customer Complaints Customers Complaints received through Zonal
Office/Head Office, Banking Ombudsman, Consumer
Forum and directly are to be attended on top priority.
Death Claims
Claims received for the deposits and securities in the
name of the deceased customers are to be processed
and settled quickly.
Credit Proposals
Credit proposals received shall be dealt with and
decision communicated to the applicants within a
reasonable time (10 to 30 days, depending upon the
type of loan).
Overdue Limits
In case of working capital limits that have fallen due
for renewal, appropriate action is to be taken.
Non
PerformingReports of NPAs and Stressed Assets to be generated
Assets
and further action for recovery is to be initiated.
SARFAESI
Where proceedings under SARFAESI Act have been
Proceedings
initiated, suitable follow up action must be taken
without delay.
Suit Filed Cases
Files relating to Suits filed by the bank in various
courts and DRTs for recovery of dues and Suits filed
against the bank are to be carefully studied and
necessary action taken.
Claims pending withClaims pending with ECGC/CGTMSME are to be
ECGC/CGTMSME
followed up.
Inspection Reports
There are several inspections and audits conducted.
Notable ones among them being 1. Annual Inspection
by Internal Auditors/Inspectors of Branches 2.
Statutory Inspection conducted by external auditors
(after March each year) 3. Short inspection 4. Stocks

25 Reconciliation
accounts

26 Returned Cheques

S
Important Points
No
27 Unit Inspection
28 Meeting VIPs
29 Unadjusted Items

30 All others

and Receivables Audit 5. Surprise Verification

conducted by administrative office 6. Annual Financial
Audit (AFI) conducted by RBI 7. Incognito visits made
by RBI/BCSBI officials for Customer Service 8. Special
Inspection carried out by ZO/HO, on suspected
frauds/misappropriation of funds etc. The incoming
manager has to note down only the serious
irregularities if any reported in any of these reports
and take suitable remedial steps at once. Irregularities
in Documentation and Charge Creation to be taken up
first.
ofAll unreconciled/ long outstanding items in InterBranch Account, Account held with RBI/SBI etc. are to
be examined. Similarly, long outstanding items in
Suspense Accounts (Sundry Creditors/Debtors) to be
studied and necessary action taken for their
reversal/squaring off.
Cheques returned by other banks (for whatever
reason) are to be delivered by personal delivery or
Registered Post.

Action to be taken
All major units financed by the bank are to be financed
by drawing a schedule of priority.
All VIP customers and other officials and dignitaries in
the vicinity are to be met, one after another, within a
fixed time frame.
Unrecovered TODs, Excess Drawings, Ad hoc limits,
Bills/Cheques Returned, Invoked Bank Guarantees
paid, Devolved L.Cs etc. are to be attended
immediately.
All these items warrant immediate action.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Submission of control returns

TDS Remittance and filing of Income Tax Returns
Pending correspondence
KYC compliance
Recoveries in written off accounts