DIRECTORS’ REPORT

2. During this year Vigilance Awareness chairmanship of MD (CB & GM) has positioning of outflows/inflows, in liquidity
Week was observed from 27th October been constituted. This Committee and interest rate sensitivity statements, that
2020 to 2nd November 2020, with the will review the progress of all cases arise due to off-balance sheet exposures,
theme “Satark Bharat, Samriddh being referred to ABBFF at bi-monthly impact of probable loan losses etc. The
Bharat (Vigilant India, Prosperous intervals. The reviewed status report prevailing assumptions relating to non-
India). As a part of observance of is being shared with all stakeholders contractual items of assets and liabilities are
Vigilance Awareness Week, “Integrity to initiate prompt action, as desired periodically reviewed and updated based
Pledge” has been administered to all at their end, so that the timelines on the outcomes of the latest studies.
staff members. All channels of Bank prescribed by ABBFF can be met.
such as SBI Times, ATMs, CDMs, The stock of High-Quality Liquid Assets
iii. To take holistic view in the disciplinary (HQLA) and cash outflows are effectively
Internet Banking, Facebook, Twitter,
cases and to ensure uniform decisions monitored on a daily basis under dynamic
Instagram, Linkedin are used to
and speedy disposal, centralized market environment to ensure maintenance
create awareness among employees
DAs have been created and 5 DAs (4 of LCR as prescribed by the Regulator as
and public on the theme of Vigilance
Hubs, 1 at CCG) have been posted / well as Bank’s ALM Policy benchmarks.
Awareness Week (VAW). During the
designated.
VAW, we held a conference of CVC
with the Top Management of the Bank. 4. Vigilance Department has conducted Your Bank has proactively implemented
The Commission was presented with 193 preventive vigilance programmes the NSFR guidelines of RBI measuring the
the elaborate Preventive Vigilance and trained 3735 officers. Suo-motu long-term resilience of the Bank in terms
measures taken by the Bank. investigations have been conducted of liquidity, which is coming into force
Commission appreciated various in 768 branches to ensure preventive effective from 1st October 2021.
measures taken by the Bank. During measures are made effective.
Your Bank identifies the inherent risks
this period, while strictly adhering to 5. During the financial year 2020-2021, associated with the changing interest
extant Covid-19 guidelines, actions a total of 1,716 cases (including rates on its on-balance sheet and off-
relating to internal house keeping 908 new cases) were taken up for balance sheet exposures from both a
were taken up in campaign mode. examination, out of which 1045 cases short-term and long-term perspective. For
A “Vigilance Bulletin” was published have since been closed. this purpose, impact on Earnings at Risk
incorporating case studies and
(EaR) and Market Value of Equity (MVE) is
other important guidelines to provide
awareness amongst employees. 7. Asset and Liability assessed with pre-defined tolerance limits
which enables the Management to initiate
3. During the financial year under review, Management appropriate preventive steps in a likely
the following measures were initiated Efficient Management of Assets and scenario of erosion in NII / Net Worth.
in order to improve the effectiveness Liabilities (ALM) is vital for sustainable and
of vigilance administration and timely qualitative growth of Banks. ALM aims to In order to encourage branches to garner
disposal of disciplinary cases. strengthen Balance Sheet by pro-actively stable funds and assess their profitability
reviewing the market dynamics, capturing based on cost of funds, a matched
i. DFS has appointed 6 Additional
the signals emanating therefrom and maturity-based Funds Transfer Pricing was
Chief Vigilance Officers (ACVOs) on
assessing the regulatory requirements to implemented by your Bank.
deputation basis, in the Bank, to
strengthen Vigilance Administration ensure value creation.
The Asset Liability Management Committee
and to support CVO. Out of 6 ACVOs, (ALCO) of your Bank monitors and
4 are posted at 4 Zones (North, South, As part of sound Risk Management
practices, your Bank has been constantly manages Liquidity and Interest Rate Risks
East and West) and 2 at Corporate by constantly modulating the asset-liability
Centre to handle cases of Corporate reviewing its Internal Policies on ‘Deposits’,
‘Asset and Liability Management’, ‘Stress mix in the Balance Sheet. ALCO, inter alia,
banking (CAG, CCG, IBG & SARG) reviews the Interest Rate scenarios, pattern
and Subsidiaries and RRBs. The roles Test on Liquidity and Interest Rate Risks’,
‘Contingency Funding Plan’ and adapting of growth of liability products, credit
and responsibilities of these ACVO are growth, competitive advantages, liquidity
finalised and required infrastructure is changes in the market conditions. Bank
has been carrying out Reverse Stress Test management, adherence to the regulatory
created for them. With appointment prescriptions and pricing of liabilities and
of ACVOs for Subsidiaries & RRBs, to take care of the eventual risk that may
crop up as a worst-case scenario. assets from time to time.
the vigilance administration of RRBs
& Subsidiaries is brought under direct Your Bank has been in the forefront of
Studies are conducted at regular intervals
supervision of CVO. monetary policy transmission, having
to assess the behavioral pattern of
ii. In order to put in place a mechanism customers (embedded options available to achieved adequate level of transmission
to monitor the progress of staff customers) in order to give proper treatment through its lending rates and has
accountability examination in respect to the non-contractual items of assets and taken additional steps to expedite the
of large value frauds of `50 crores liabilities while assessing liquidity position. transmission process by reducing its MCLR
and above, a Committee namely Behavioral analysis is being carried out reset frequency from 1 year to 6 months for
“ABBFF Review Committee” under at half-yearly intervals to ensure accurate eligible floating rate advances. The Bank

84 Annual Report 2020 – 21

DIRECTORS’ REPORT

had also transmitted the Repo rate cuts

during the year in entirety through its EBLR.

With automation of Regulatory Reports/

Returns pertaining to ALM, your Bank
is better positioned in monitoring and
compliance in respect of Liquidity and
Interest Rate Risk Management.

8. Ethics and Business

Conduct
Your Bank established the Ethics &
Business Conduct Vertical in the year 2017.
The moot idea behind the decision was to
further strengthen and integrate ethics in the
operational fabric of the Bank in a more overt
and structured manner. A flagship initiative in
the entire Indian Banking and Public Sector
Release of Policy Guidelines by the Chairman
landscape, it was yet another reiteration
of your Bank’s strong commitment to
uphold the highest standards of integrity Your Bank’s commitment towards nurturing failures from the moral lens, it was a brief
and conduct. What started from a scratch, an inclusive, secure and a high trust commentary as to what went wrong from an
has over the period of time shaped into a workplace for its women employees is ethical perspective. The abridged version
robust, comprehensive and an effective driven by the Garima (POSH) framework. of the Bank’s Code, The Code of Ethics in
organisational ethics framework. Ever since Towards this end, many activities that Brief, was prepared for circulation amongst
inception, the Ethics and Business Conduct cover the entire process cycle- education, the new entrants during onboarding. A
vertical of your Bank has been carrying out escalation and empowerment- on matters comprehensive online certification module
a host of initiatives and programs. A quick relating to gender-sensitivity and sexual on the Code, the successful completion of
glance of the major ethical initiatives so harassment have been undertaken. In which is digitally certified, was also designed
far, the formulation of the Vision, Mission the area of consequence management, and hosted on the intranet.
& Values Statements of your Bank, in workflows have been reviewed, streamlined
sync with the employee expectations and and where required, redesigned to In the area of Discipline Management, your
the changing times, articulated the basic ensure a fairer, faster and a more efficient Bank has completed the operationalization
guiding principles, both at an individual Discipline Management structure. This has of centralized Disciplinary Authority (DA)
and institutional level. The core Values of ensured that the ethical transgressions are structure for Officers up to SMGS-V. The
the Bank were the foundations on which adequately dealt with promptly and in a framework is serving well its intended
the Bank’s Code of Ethics was ideated and transparent manner, which is one of the key purpose of bringing in uniformity of approach
designed. Today, pivoted around its Values requirements of fostering an ethical culture in handling the disciplinary matters across
and the Code, the entire ethical program of in an organisation. the spectrum. Last but not the least, even
your Bank is optimally primed to permeate amidst the disruptions, your Bank reached
and percolate exalted behavioural norms The FY 2020-21, for the major part, was out to the newly selected Probationary
across all levels. marked by disruptions caused by the Officers, newly promoted JMGS-I and
Pandemic. However, the operational the officials working in the consequence
While the ethics program is mostly tech resilience built in the preceding years, by management setup through a series of
driven, to further leverage the digital, constant integration of the digital platforms webinars on Ethics, GARIMA-POSH and
major initiatives like development and in all work spheres, ensured that the entire Discipline Management touch basing close
operationalisation of Ethics Website, gamut of activities of the Ethics & Business to 3000 officials. In addition, customised
Business Conduct and Discipline Conduct vertical continued unaffected workshops on ethics for the various internal
Management Online Processing Portal & and uninterrupted, just like the pre-covid verticals were also conducted.
Dashboard and GARIMA, an online portal times. On the contrary, the scope and
for lodging sexual harassment related span of it further expanded. In addition The journey to perfection is lengthy and a
complaints, were taken and concluded to the one existing, three new daily email patient trudge. Your Bank, that has already
in the recent times. Various policies that broadcast series were started. These were come a long way, looks forward to continuing
can have an influence on the employee based upon developing leadership traits, with the same zeal and enthusiasm on its
ethical behaviour like Gift & Entertainment, employee well-being and practising ethics goal to attain ethical excellence, a perquisite
Social Media etc have also been beyond the workplace. Similarly, in addition to enhanced brand equity and continued
constantly reviewed, updated and to the one existing, a new weekly blog series success.
circulated in the Bank. was ideated. Viewing the major corporate

Annual Report 2020 – 21 85