HDFC Bank on June 5 suspended one of its officers in Kolkata for allegedly engaging in unruly behaviour with colleagues during an internal meeting. In a video circulating on Twitter, the officer was heard shouting at his junior colleagues for not selling enough banking and insurance products.
In a statement made available to Moneycontrol, HDFC Bank said, "This bears reference to a recent social media report. Basis a preliminary enquiry in the matter, the concerned employee has been suspended and a detailed investigation has been initiated which will be undertaken as per Conduct guidelines of the Bank."
The banking major further added that they have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of misconduct at the workplace and firmly believe in treating all our employees with dignity and respect.
In the video, manager was asking his junior employee said, "I don't understand, today you're going to do 25 smart ones, 25 sure cover, and 25 health covers."
Moneycontrol couldn’t reach out to the employee immediately for a response.
Here is a Twitter post of the video:
Misselling compliants
In the past, there have been instances where life insurance policies were sold to customers aged above 75 years in Tier II-III cities. Usually, branches of the banks push products of their subsidiary insurers.
Bank executives, especially from public sector banks (PSBs), are facing immense pressure from top management to sell third-party products like insurance. Failure to meet targets invites informal penal actions while meeting targets brings perks such as parties in five-star resorts.
Banks typically cross-sell insurance products of their subsidiaries, and sometimes of other companies, along with loan products. Many times banks insist purchase of policies along with loan products.
RBI caution
Last month, India’s central bank conducted a meeting with the board of directors of all public sector banks (PSBs) and private banks to discuss issues related to governance and ethics.
Concerned over rising incidence of mis-selling, the finance ministry has directed heads of public sector banks to put in place strong mechanisms to avoid unethical practices for selling insurance policies to customers.
The Department of Financial Services has received complaints that fraudulent and unethical practices are adopted by banks and life insurance companies for procuring policies from the bank customers, a letter addressed to chairpersons and managing directors of public sector banks said.
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