Safe Keeping of Gold Collateral

Full transcript

Gold is one of the most sensitive securities handled by a bank, and safe custody of gold collateral is a critical control — not merely a storage activity. The Officer or Manager must carefully cross-verify the gold ornaments with the cloth bag contents, checking the account number, sequence number, description, net weight, and gross weight against the Gold Loan Application and Sanction Letter. Once verification is complete, the jewels along with Gold Loan Ticket NF 367 and the Sanction Letter cum Pass Card NF 1075 must be placed together inside a cloth bag of adequate size. The bag must be securely tied so that no contents can fall out, and then placed inside an envelope or pouch. Importantly, NF 367 must always be fastened on the outside of the gold loan packet for easy identification. The prepared gold loan packet must never be left unattended even for a moment. It should be immediately placed inside the TRTL safe by both key holders together, each using their own key simultaneously. This dual-control procedure ensures that no single individual has sole access to the gold collateral, maintaining the highest level of security at all times. Before placing the packets inside the safe, the Gold Loans Officer must update two important registers. The gold loan and jewellery details must be entered in NB 175, the Gold Loan Pledge and Redemption Register. The movement of every gold packet must also be recorded in NB 191, the Gold Packets Inward and Outward Movement Register. Keeping both registers updated ensures a complete and accurate paper trail. Every day, the gold loan sanctions made during the day must be downloaded from CBS and physically tallied against the actual gold loan packets held in custody. Both key holders must sign the NB 191 register as acknowledgement of this reconciliation. This daily verification ensures that every sanctioned gold loan is properly accounted for and that no packet is missing or misplaced. Finally, all gold loan packets inside the strong room must be arranged serially according to their sequence numbers so they can be retrieved quickly and accurately whenever needed. The key holders must ensure that the total packets in the strong room always tally with the DLP or CBS records — every packet correctly identified, every record matched, and every security protected under proper dual control at all times.