Mumbai: There has been a surge in customer complaints received by
banking ombudsmen across India relating to deposit accounts. Central
bankers feel that this is largely related to know your customer (KYC)
norms and non-transparency on the part of banks with regards to their
deposit schemes.
According to the annual report of the
Banking Ombudsman Scheme for 2012 published by Reserve Bank of India
(RBI), the number of complaints pertaining to deposit accounts has
jumped more than five times to 8,713.
“Though no reason
can be ascribed for this trend, issues related to KYC norms is one of
the major components of these complaints. Further, the banks are not
properly and fully disclosing the different risks associated with their
liability products,” the annual report said. The surge in complaints
regarding deposit accounts is significant considering that banks have
embarked on a move to scale up number of accounts to achieve the
government objective of one account per household scheme, which will be
implemented in 2013 to enable direct transfer of benefits.
Until
2011, complaints relating to deposits accounts were only 2% of all
complaints. They now account for 12% of all petitions to the ombudsman
offices.
Complaints about failure of a bank to meet the
fair practices code was the biggest ground for petitions made to the
Ombudsmen with 18,365 complaints under this category constituting 25% of
total complaints.
Out of total 14,492 complaints
relating to cards, 9,348 complaints were those pertaining to ATM and
debit cards. Broadly, the complaints are on account of issue of
unsolicited cards, unsolicited insurance policies and recovery of
premium, charging of annual fee in spite of being offered as ‘free’
cards, authorization of loans over phone, wrong billing, settlement
offers conveyed telephonically, non-settlement of insurance claims after
the demise of the card holder, excessive charges, wrong debits to
account, nondispensation of money from ATM, and skimming of cards.
The
banking ombudsman scheme was first introduced in 1995, it was amended
twice in 2005 and again in 2009. Over the years the scheme has been
changed to include issues such as internet banking and other issues that
have arisen as a result of development in banking technology. The
scheme is in for a major overhaul with RBI appointing a committee under
the chairmanship of Suma Varma, chief general manager, customer service
department, to review the scheme.
The committee was
constituted after changes to the banking ombudsman scheme were
recommended by various panels. The Damodaran committee on customer
service in 2010 had suggested that banks have an in-house authority to
adjudicate on customer complaints and that the ombudsman should be more
of an appellate authority. The Rajya Sabha Committee on Subordinate
Legislation in its 183rd report had also made some suggestions on the
banking ombudsman scheme.
Courtesy:
Mayur Shetty TNN
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