Bangladesh Bank orders banks to go for duty rosters

The banking watchdog has ordered banks to immediately introduce alternate duty roster for its workforce in order to tackle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the central bank has not given any clear induction on how many employees will attend the offices, it has asked to fix the number as per their requirement.

Bangladesh Bank issued a notice on Wednesday to this end as per guidelines of the Prime Minister's Office.

For instance, it will be tough for banks to run small branches with 50 per cent of their employees where 8-10 persons usually operate the whole office, a central bank official explained.

But, the large branches can decrease 50 per cent of their employees easily, he said.

So, this time the BB has handed over the responsibility to banks such that they can provide the banking service to commoners in an efficient manner.

The instruction will stay into effect at least for the next few weeks since the issuance date of the PMO notice.    

In March last year, Bangladesh Bank introduced the alternate duty roster for the banking sector soon after the Covid-19 had arrived on the shore of Bangladesh.

The duty roster was gradually withdrawn with the falling rate of Covid infections.

A second wave of the deadly flu hit the country last month, forcing the government to impose the alternative duty roster once again as part of its efforts to tackle the situation.