Are there any hard and fast rules out there regarding bank employees acting as co-lessees on customer safe deposit boxes (i.e., employee has been appointed executor or personal rep). Any advice is appreciated!

I have reached that stage in life where I doubt that there are any "hard and fast" rules about anything. But in this area, I urge real caution. Banks should be concerned about employees' being put in fiduciary positions except where you might expect them to be there without their "banker hats."

For example, it might be expected that an employee is named an executor or attorney-in-fact for a family member, but when an employee receives this trust/responsibility from a customer to whom the employee isn't related, a red flag might be waving. An employee might feel he/she is helping the bank by providing a service, but this sort of service can be fraught with problems like conflicts of interest, unknown family members who suddenly show up, ready to fight, etc.

I agree with the above response. When we were instituting safe deposit boxes this was an area that was prohibited. I would not allow this as stated above.