NBL employees protest against new regulations
Nearly six hundred employees at the head office of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL)—the oldest bank in the country—walked out of their offices Sunday in protest of new employees regulations enforced by the bank management.
The employees staged sit in at the premises of the NBL at Bhugol Park and also burnt out copies of regulations in protest. Two employee unions of the Bank have warned that they will launch an indefinite ‘non-cooperation movement’ from Tuesday if the Bank management did not agree to sit for dialogue to discuss their 55-point demands
According to a joint statement issued by Nepal Bank Employees Union and Nepal Financial Institutes Employees Union, NBL branch, new regulations introduced by the Bank management include mandatory retirement to employees who served at the same post continuously for 15 years and mandatory retirement without compensation to employees who have completed 30 years of service, among others.
They have also alleged that the ICCMT Consulting group – that was hired three years ago—has failed to fulfill provisions in its contract including recovering loans from ‘willful defaulters.’
Meanwhile, in an interview with Nepalnews a couple of months ago, CEO of Nepal Bank Limited J. Craig McAllister said that at the conclusion of first two years (of the management contract), NBL’s externally audited results showed an operating profit of Rs 418 million and a net profit of Rs 789 million at fiscal year-end 2003/04.
“In two years, Nepal Bank moved from posting the largest loss in the history of Nepalese financial markets to producing the highest audited profit among banks in the market in 2003/04. The bank has been successfully restructured in all areas and is reducing the negative equity position dramatically. Our staff has been reduced by approximately 49%, new systems and procedures have been successfully implemented, computers are being installed, our cost of funds has been reduced by more than 50%, and we have a strong budgeting process with a rolling strategic plan that presently carries NBL,” McAllister said.
He, however, said that approximately 40% of non-performing loans at NBL were held by about 15 groups of influential borrowers and that this small group of willful defaulters had been steadfast in their refusal to negotiate in good faith. nepalnews.com by Aug 28 05
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