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26 August 2010

Russian bankers are tired of fraud

Swindling and abuse on the part of the staff of Russian banks is serious headache for bank managers. According to some sources, losses caused by financial crooks only in the oldest and largest Russian bank Sberbank reached nearly 35 million rubles last year. This equals over a million dollars. So Sberbank has made an unprecedented step in the history of financial structures. Aiming at preventing illegal actions on the part of its current and future staff, the bank has published a list of people sacked during the last 18 months.  The “black list” consists of 426 people. Most of them lost their jobs through loss of trust.This article exists in the Russian Labour Code. Publishing this black list on its website, the administration of Sberbank did not only mean to punish the sacked people but also to warn others about the possible consequences of wrongdoing, says the President of the Russian Association of Regional Banks Anatoly Aksakov.  “Unfortunately, sometimes bank workers do their banks serious harm with their illegal activities. This happens, for example, when they give out loans for a bribe. At present they are not liable to any responsibility for this. This is why the publication of these lists is a preventive step which is to ensure good discipline of the bank staff. Hopefully, they will behave more correctly with the clients and will think twice before violating the law and entering a collusion with, say, a potential borrower.”   In Anatoly Aksakov’s opinion, the management of Sberbank was completely aware that the people on the black list will hardly find new jobs in financial companies now, so they will not be able to discredit them any more. This was another aim of publishing the information. This method has been common practice in many countries for years, Anatoly Aksakov told “The Voice of Russia”.  “In the West people who have stained their reputations with improper actions are banned from work in financial organisations. Once someone’s name gets onto the black list, all doors in that particular segment of the job market close for them.”  Human rights protectors say that information about unreliable staff was not top secret in the past either. Employers often contact the candidates’ previous jobs before giving anyone a job. In the case with the Sberbank black list, if those, whose names are in it, object to the information being made public, they can appeal to court, says human rights protector Semion Epstein.  “These people can lodge complaints if they think that their honour and dignity have suffered. If they can prove that the information was wrong they can sue Sberbank”.  But Epstein believes that the people on the black list have already admitted they were guilty because they did not complain to court for being dismissed from work. This justifies the actions of Sberbank. In the bankers’ opinion, black lists are a very mild measure. Anatoly Aksakov, the President of the Association of the Russian Regional Banks, says that we need a tougher law to eradicate corruption in banks. At present a new bill is being prepared which will prohibit banks to employ staff who discredited themselves at their previous jobs.  

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