Skills Required

Banks should ensure that the managers of the WU, their team leaders and workout officers are highly qualified professionals, who would be able to discharge their functions effectively and in connection therewith, training needs should be assessed and proper training plans are to be prepared accordingly. Within the individual NPL WUs, more specialization is often useful based on the different NPL workout approaches required per relevant borrower segment.

Such workout officers should have strong analytical and financial analysis skills, understand the depth of the restructuring process and have the ability to work well under pressure.

Remuneration

Compensation structures for workout staff need to be aligned with long term strategy of the bank. If compensation is based on cash recoveries, officers may choose to optimize their own short-term income at the expense of longer-term profit maximization for the bank. Conversely, basing compensation on a reduction in the volume of non- performing loans may lead to improper restructuring or the bankruptcy of otherwise viable companies as officers seek to reduce the numbers by the quickest means possible. The staff may also be reluctant to employ the full range of restructuring options (particularly with respect to loan forgiveness) without provisions to indemnify them for costs and provide legal counsel to defend them in case legal charges are brought against them.

Assigning workload

Banks should establish policies specifying timelines for assigning stressed accounts to Work Officers, once the account is marked to be stressed.