A Short Till, a Full Vault, and Festival Week
Your Birgunj branch is heading into a three-day festival closure from Friday. On Wednesday afternoon the vault holds NPR 18,420,000 against an insurance limit of NPR 15,000,000. Of that, NPR 2,400,000 is in NPR 1,000 notes. The cash-in-transit pickup scheduled for Monday has not been confirmed, and the vehicle is unreliable during festival traffic.
Thursday demand is expected to be heavy: over-the-counter withdrawals of about NPR 6,000,000 and ATM replenishment of NPR 1,500,000 for each of two machines.
Separately, teller Sita Sharma - nine years' service - closed short by NPR 12,500. It is her second shortage in 18 days; the earlier one was NPR 4,300, recorded as a misposted transaction and recovered. She says a customer's note bundle was mixed. The cash officer is on leave, and the junior teller covering the counter has not completed cash-handling certification.
1. Sequence the cash decisions for the next 36 hours. How do you deal with the limit breach and the payout demand?
Read the worked answer
The limit breach comes first and is not negotiable. NPR 18.42 million against an insured limit of NPR 15 million leaves NPR 3.42 million uninsured. If there is a fire or robbery tonight, the bank absorbs that amount. The insurance contract, not the branch's convenience, sets the limit.
Sequence.
- Before close today: count and certify the vault with dual control, record the breach in the vault register with time and reason, and inform the Regional Office in writing the same day, requesting either a temporary enhancement or an emergency lift.
- By 15:00 tomorrow: arrange a special CIT pickup or an inter-branch transfer of NPR 3.5–4 million. Holding the excess because the CIT is late simply repeats the breach.
- Fund payouts from inflow, not from the excess. Thursday demand is NPR 6 million over the counter plus NPR 3 million for two ATMs - NPR 9 million against a vault that must stay below NPR 15 million. Get a written CIT ETA; if none, publish an over-the-counter withdrawal cap and route larger withdrawals through same-day clearing transfers.
- Denomination. NPR 2.4 million in NPR 1,000 notes is a mix problem, not a liquidity problem; request mixed notes on the next delivery and exchange with a nearby branch.
- Staffing. Recall the cash officer or appoint a second custodian in writing. Dual control on the vault is not suspended for a festival.
Escalate early and in writing. A limit enhancement you requested protects you; a breach the auditor discovers does not. Record every decision and who approved it.
2. How do you handle the teller's shortage procedurally and fairly, and what does the pattern suggest?
Read the worked answer
Treat it as a control event first, a people issue second.
- Tonight: recount with the teller present and a second officer; reconcile her cash book, the day's large-note transactions and the bundle she says was mixed. Record the short in the shortage register. Do not quietly adjust it against another till or a suspense account.
- Within 24 hours: take a written statement, pull CCTV and the transaction journal for the window, and re-examine the earlier NPR 4,300. If that was a documented misposting, say so in the file; two shortages in 18 days is a pattern, not bad luck.
- Interim deployment: keep her on the counter with 100% cash verification at close and no single-custody vault access. Do not suspend her as a punishment - suspension is a sanction and must follow evidence, not replace it.
- If the journal or CCTV shows a customer was short-changed, correct it immediately and apologise. If it shows misappropriation, hand the matter to the disciplinary process and, above the policy threshold, to the police; inform HR and internal audit.
Fairness is part of the control. A long-serving teller publicly accused in festival week may resign, and the rest of the team will stop reporting errors. Keep the investigation confidential, tell her what is happening and when, and record each step and decision-maker.
Root cause. Fix handover counting, bundle verification at receipt, and completion of the junior teller's certification before she operates a counter alone. The shortage is the symptom; the missing certification and the absent cash officer are the cause.