The Bank of China will require its branch office managers to take compulsive annual vacations to prevent the occurrences of bank crimes, a spokesman for the bank said in Beijing Wednesday.

This is the first time that a Chinese bank makes use of compulsive vacations to conduct spot-checks on grass-root managers.

Spokesman Wang Zhaowen said that at least 50 percent of business managers who head the bank's branch offices will be required to take vacations of five to 10 days every year. An acting manager will then be appointed to evaluate the vacationer's management and performance. To make sure the spot-check is effective and accurate, business managers and their branch offices will not be notified before a compulsive vacation order arrives, Wang said.

Apart from vacation plans, the bank has also mapped out other policies to tighten internal governance such as rotating all managers who have served for three years, using video cameras to monitor the operation of branch offices and appointing independent accounting of managers at branches of various levels.

Earlier this month, 20 local branch directors were deposed from their posts because their mismanagement had caused considerable losses to the state-owned bank, which is trying to get listed this year.

Source: Xinhua