You are working as an executive in a nationalised bank for several years. One day one of your close colleagues tells you that her father is suffering from heart disease and needs surgery immediately to survive. She also tells you that she has no insurance and the operation will cost about Rs. 10 lakh. You are also aware of the fact that her husband is no more and that she is from a lower middle class family. You are empathetic about her situation. However, apart from expressing your sympathy, you do not have the resources to fund her. A few weeks later, you ask her about the well-being of her father and she informs you about his successful surgery and that he is recovering. She then confides in you that the bank manager was kind enough to facilitate the release of Rs. 10 lakh from a dormant account of someone to pay for the operation with a promise that it should be confidential and be repaid at the earliest. She has already started paying it back and will continue to do so until it is all returned. (a) What are the ethical issues involved? (b) Evaluate the behaviour of the bank manager from an ethical point of view. (c) How would you react to the situation?

Facts in brief

A bank manager released Rs 10 lakh from a customer's dormant account to fund a colleague's father's emergency surgery, on a promise of secrecy and repayment. The money is being repaid in instalments. As an executive who now knows this, I must judge the situation.

Stakeholders

• The colleague and her father (genuine need, life saved)
• The dormant account holder / their heirs (owner of misused funds)
• The bank manager (compassionate but breached trust)
• The bank, depositors and regulator RBI (institutional integrity)
• Myself (duty vs empathy)

Ethical issues involved

• Breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of a customer's funds without consent
• The end (saving a life) does not justify illegal means; even repayment does not cure the original wrong
• Conflict between empathy/compassion and honesty, accountability and rule of law
• Culture of secrecy and moral hazard it normalises within the bank

Evaluating the bank manager

His motive was humane and courageous, but the act constitutes unauthorised use of another's money, a serious breach of banking discipline and law. Good intentions cannot sanitise misappropriation; a right end pursued by a wrong means erodes the trust on which banking rests. He should instead have used legitimate channels.

How I would react

• Empathise, but make clear the act is impermissible and must be regularised
• Persuade the manager to voluntarily disclose to senior management and ensure full, immediate restitution to the account
• Help the colleague through legitimate options: staff welfare fund, salary advance, medical loan, CGHS/insurance, or crowd-support
• If disclosure is refused, discharge my own duty by reporting through proper channels, since silence makes me complicit

Compassion and integrity can be reconciled only through lawful means; protecting institutional trust ultimately protects every depositor.