LN Revathy

Disturbed over the frequent, arbitrary and one-sided increase in banking charges, a group of consumer activists, policy watchers, bankers and trade unions have put forth a joint request to RBI Governor Urjit Patel to ensure that “banks treat customers without discrimination and in a fair manner”.

Some of the specific areas identified by the group for taking corrective action include digital payments, account number portability, bank charges, one-sided loan agreements and frequent changes in RBI’s master circular, among others.

Sharing details of this joint memorandum, CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), said: “While the Reserve Bank has been proactive in improving the customer service rendered by banks, it has not taken banks to task on the many customer-unfriendly practices that are increasing with impunity.” The Union Government, for instance, has been pushing digital payments. With an increase in digital transactions, it is necessary to put in place a mechanismto protect customers from unauthorised banking transactions. A notification from the banking regulator on limiting liability in an unauthorised banking transaction will make a huge impact on protecting customers from frauds, the statement said.

Call for basic model

There was also a demand for prescribing a basic model agreement to limit banks from harming customers, and to put an end to the wrong e-mails being tagged by faulty algorithms of banks, as it defeats the purpose of KYC.

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