Concern over poaching of PSU staff by pvt banks

Expressing concern over the talent migration due to attractive pay packages being offered by foreign and retail banking operators, Union Bank of India chairman and managing director K Cherian called for creating a level playing field to protect the interests of public sector banks.

Addressing the seventh bank educationists conference on 'The role of human resources in meeting banking challenges', organised by the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF), here on Monday, Cherian said some drastic steps needed to be taken in retaining the talent pool as a matter of urgency or else the public sector banks would end up losing its talented professionals very soon.

He said that offering incentives and pay hike within the normal framework followed by the banks would not help in arresting the attrition as the packages offered by foreign and retailing institutions are very high. "To address this problem, the banks need boards with people having imagination to tackle the issue," he said.

"The public sector banks train their personnel in all the aspects of banking to make them full-fledged bankers and that has become a sort of 'vulnerability' exposing the talented staff to poaching tactics of private players who are ready to offer many times more than what the PSUs pay."

Cherian, who is also the president of IIBF, warned of persistent shortages of skills, which would be exacerbated by competition if banks failed to initiate immediate measures in training and retaining the human resources.

He also emphasised the need for a change in the mindset of the staff and managements of public sector and old generation private banks to work in the new stressed environment.

The two-day event is covering the issues of risk management, information technology, outsourcing, role of educational institutions in knowledge management and human resource development as a business strategy in the banking sector.