Corporation Bank plans discounted stock offer for employees

Following the market leader State Bank of India (SBI), Corporation Bank is planning to offer shares to its employees at a discount, a move that would help them reward staff and raise capital.

"We are planning Employees Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS) for our employees at discount," Corporation Bank Chairman and Managing Director S R Bansal told PTI.

He, however, refused to share further information saying various approvals are being sought.

The Mangalore-based bank has around 20,000 employees.

Last week, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya had said that the bank is considering an ESPS for all employees, irrespective of their posts.

Lauding the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Bansal said, it has turned "profitable" for the bank.

"The bank has earned Rs 14.77 crore while the expenditure was Rs 12.70 crore. So we are having profit of Rs 2.70 crore. It is profitable for us," he said.

On NPA management, he said that for the purpose of close and effective monitoring of stressed assets and for recovery and upgradation of such accounts, the bank has formed four separate verticals at head office, circle offices and zonal offices.

The bank has also set up two separate verticals for the purpose of monitoring CASA growth in newly opened branches and monitoring of Pay Roll Accounts, he said.

A separate vertical is also put in place to reduce and control the avoidable operating expenses, he said, adding that the bank has achieved success in significant reduction in operating expenses in the areas of advertisement, telephone expenses, expenses on security guards and rental expenses among others, which has directly contributed to the profitability.

In spite of significant addition of manpower, new branches and operating units, the growth in operating expenses have been reduced to 5.57% in 2014-15 as compared to a growth of 19.79% during the previous financial year, he added.