HR just issued a memo that any prizes, gifts, or cash received at seminars or classes have to be either returned (not accepted) or given to the financial institution for donation to charity.

Is anyone else not being allowed to accept prizes? I know last year our CFO won a Wii at a conference and another employee won a digital camera at a conference.

We get prizes often, but they're reflected on our paystubs and taxed accordingly.

And what is the rationale for this edict?

That would be my exact question.....

Sounds like they are trying to tag on the Bank Bribery Act and ethics, or trying to avoid the appearance of largesse (spelling?) that was critized last year by the media. Remember all the articles about bank trips, bonuses, "referral" fees via golf trips etc from headhunters, personal jet use by executive management, etc.

That seems quite petty and short-sighted, as if anyone would think that winning an autographed football or a dozen golfballs would garner media scrutiny. However, if these are the rules, and they pay for you to attend the seminar or class, then I guess you have to follow them. I've attended numerous trade shows, seminars, and classes, and the biggest gift I've ever seen given (not including free registration for the same show next year) was an Ipod and a Big Bertha driver...I'm fairly certain no media would bother reporting on that

I totally agree, but management may be worried about public opinion. It all depends on their market.

Most places i've worked have forbidden employees to accept such gifts... it was the appearance they were going for.

additionally, if i remember correctly, the IRS required that we treat any item of greater than nominal value (i think we decided that meant 10.00) had to be 1099'd accordingly.

Very strange; I agree it seems rather petty for the types of items I have seen.

Wouldn't 1099 reporting be the responsibility of the company gifting the item?

so if a customer bakes cookies and brings it to the branch manager at Christmas, will they tell the customer no? How do you explain to Ms. Jones, the 72 year old grandmother who has banked with you for over 50 years that you can't accept her cookies? Or if the President is out for lunch and the head of the Rotary Club offers to buy him lunch, is that a no as well?

silly rule...

I worked for many years at the Federal Reserve and we were forbidden from accepting any gifts from customers "unless the refusal of said gift would cause embarrasment" to the customer. However, if I attended a training session or conference and vendors were giving away door prizes, I was certainly eligible to win.

There is a big difference between winning a door prize at a seminar and being given some valuable gift to influence a loan decision. We have to disclose everything - even the smallest door prize - but we are allowed to keep them. Our ethics policy is very specific about gifts directly from customers.

I wonder what led them to such a decision?

Plus, if your institution has been recently criticized or has appeared in the media, I could see such a policy being implemented.

Our long standing policy is that employees are not allowed to accept gifts from customers (although we do accept cookies). Prizes won at Banking Association events, trade shows, etc. and not included in this policy.

That's our bank's policy as well, which is a good thing since I won a car from Freddie Mac 10 years ago.

I worked at a large bank where if a gift from a customer above a certain value would cause embarrassment to the customer to refuse, it could be kept but kept by the bank. If the employee wished to keep it - perhaps it was personalized - they had to make a donation to charity in an amount equivalent to the value of the gift! Door prizes etc were not included unless they were from realtors, appraisers, etc. that could cause RESPA issues.

Our policy not only restricts gifts from customers but also accepting gifts from our vendors or potential vendors. If the valus is less than $25., we may accept it.