An RBI-appointed panel on Monday recommended hosts of customer-centric initiatives for banks and NBFCs, including online settlement of claims by heirs of deceased account holders, flexibility for submission of life certificates by pensioners and a centralised KYC database.
The report of the Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities (REs) has also suggested that the operations of accounts should not be stopped pending periodic Know Your Customer (KYC) updates. It recommended that there should be a time limit for the return of property documents to borrowers after the closure of the loan account, failing which a penalty should be imposed on the lender.
The committee, formed under the chairmanship of former RBI deputy governor BP Kanungo, comprised Punjab National Bank MD and CEO AK Goel, AS Ramasastri, Amitha Sehgal, Rajeshri Varhadi, Anil Kumar Sharma and Anupam Sonal. The RBI has called for public feedback on the report till July 7. Some of the key recommendations include instituting a structure of incentives and disincentives for lenders to take pro-active steps towards enterprise-wide improvements in customer service, making the Charter of Customer Rights enforceable after reviewing and updating it, laying down a definition of a complaint, and developing and publishing a customer service and protection index to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism in banks.
In case of loss of property documents, the regulated entity should not only be obligated to assist in obtaining certified registered copies of documents at their cost but also compensate the customer adequately, keeping in view the time taken to arrange the alternate copies of the documents, the report said.
The REs, it suggested, “may adopt a nuanced approach for risk categorisation of customers. For example, salary earners with inflows and outflows consistent with the customer’s profile need not necessarily be categorised as high risk, even though they may be ‘high net worth’ individuals”.
Similarly, students can also be categorised as low-risk.The report said till the recommendation for a common complaint portal is put in place, the REs should have a system to enable the complainant to track the progress in the processing of the complaint.”Customer-facing staff and officers should undergo mandatory training in soft skills to reduce instances of misbehaviour by the errant staff/officers,” it said.
The committee has also suggested measures for the benefit of pensioners.The pensioners, it said, should be able to submit life certificate (LC) at any branch of the bank in which they maintain their pension account. Moreover, they should be allowed to submit LC in any month of their choice to avoid the rush in a particular month, and subsequent LCs can be submitted in the same month at annual intervals, it added. For gold loan companies, the committee said, in case of death of a borrower, a notice may be served to the nominee or legal heir to settle the outstanding and keep the same on record before auctioning the pledged gold.