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Financial Assistance from the State and
Donor Agencies

The Bank has access to various lines of credit extended by the Government and donor agencies that target loans to selected sectors and beneficiary groups under refinance arrangements. Details of these refinance schemes are summarised below:

Compensation and Benefit Strategy of the Bank

The wage policy adopted by the Bank is based mainly on the Collective Bargaining Agreements that are in operation covering specified employee categories as well as market surveys carried out from time to time, which indicate the highest and lowest range of wage structures in the industry. Since there is no regulation in place under the Shop and Office Employees’ Act indicating the minimum wage applicable to employees covered under such Act, measures such as collective bargaining and continuous dialogue between and among employee associations, corporate peers and labour authorities, allow the Bank to keep abreast of current trends and policies pertaining to wage practices in the Banking industry and the Mercantile Sector as a whole. The Bank has no gender discrimination with regard to the wages paid to its employees.

Consequent to a salary survey carried out in 2011, the Bank signed a Collective Agreement and an MOU with the Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union covering the Non-Executive cadre of 1999 employees and 818 Junior Executive Officers, respectively for the period from January 2012 to December 2014.

The Bank, having a special interest in ensuring the economic well being of its employees, recognises the hardships that an employee might have to undergo as a result of certain work-related conditions. For instance, infrastructure facilities and amenities available at site are taken into consideration when carrying out feasibility studies prior to setting up branches.

The Bank seeks to present meaningful and compelling communication regarding salaries and benefits highlighting the Bank’s areas of priority to employees with the intention of motivating them and catalysing behavioural changes where necessary, for mutual benefit. The Bank also provides clear and unambiguous information to all employees explaining the different components of their compensation and how their pay is determined. This includes sharing information on an employee’s variable pay opportunity as well as the salary band, salary structure and merit guidelines, where applicable.

Our annual event calendar includes special gatherings, such as sports tournaments, children’s parties, quiz programmes, staff conferences and other social and religious events that nurture labour-management relations.

Recruitment Methodology

All recruitments to corporate management and senior management are made from citizens of the respective country, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The staff members in Executive Grades IV and V are considered as senior management while members of the Corporate Management consist of staff members promoted from the aforesaid grades or hired from outside.

The next few paragraphs describe the general procedure followed by the Bank when recruiting staff.

Our intake is at two entry levels, where employees join either as Banking Trainees or as Management Trainees. Mid career recruitment takes place only in relation to specialised job positions.

Recruitment is from a centralised location - our Head Offices situated in Colombo or Dhaka. Applicants from all over the country visit these locations for the examinations and/or interviews. With regard to entry level positions however, the Bank has begun its recruitment search on a regional basis.

In relation to placement of employees at various locations of operation, the Bank considers their home town and the distance required to travel by an employee as a consequence thereof before effecting placements/transfers. This consideration can be overridden however by the exigencies of business.

With regard to mid career recruitments, the basis of recruitment is the competencies held by the respective individual and the experience he/she carries in the required field of work. Hence, these types of recruitments are carried out independent of any geographical concern.