Banking Ombudsman

Banking Ombudsman is a person who hears complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995.

The Banking Ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India to redress customer complaints. All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.

A Person can make a complaint to the Banking Ombudsman for things such as,

• Inordinate delay in the payment or collection of cheques, drafts, bills etc.
• Non-payment or delay in payment of inward remittances.
• Non-adherence to prescribed working hours
• Complaints from NRIs having accounts in India in relation to their remittances from abroad, deposits and other bank-related matters
• Refusal to open deposit accounts without any valid reason for refusal
• Levying of charges without adequate prior notice to the customer
• Failure to provide or delay in providing a banking facility promised in writing by a bank or its direct selling agents.
• Forced closure of deposit accounts without due notice or without sufficient reason;
• Refusal to close or delay in closing the accounts.
• Refusal to accept or delay in accepting payment towards taxes, as required by Reserve Bank/Government.
• Delays in receipts of export proceeds, handling of export bills, collection of bills etc. for exporters provided the said complaints pertain to the Banks operations in India.
• Non-acceptance of application for loans without furnishing valid reasons to the applicant

It is possible to file a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman simply by writing on a plain paper. One can also file it online by sending an email to the Banking Ombudsman. Banking Ombudsman can order the Bank to compensate the actual money loss OR Rs.10 lakh (whichever is lower). In case of Credit card related cases, the Ombudsman can order the bank to pay additional fines (upto Rs.1 lakh) for the mental harassment caused to the customer.

The Banking Ombudsman does not charge any fee for filing and resolving customers’ complaints.

If a person is not satisfied with the decision passed by the Banking Ombudsman, he/she can approach the appellate authority against the Banking Ombudsmen’s decision within 30 days of the verdict. Appellate Authority is vested with a Deputy Governor of the RBI.

Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies, 2018

The RBI introduced an NBFC Ombudsman scheme to redress complaints with regard to NBFCs in 2018. The NBFC Ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the RBI to redress customer complaints against NBFCs for deficiency in certain services covered under the grounds of complaint specified under Clause 8 of the Scheme. Four NBFC Ombudsman have been appointed with their offices located at Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi and Mumbai.

Cash Recyclers

A Cash Recycler is a machine that handles a couple of simple, but important tasks—accepting and dispensing cash. Cash recycling enables an ATM to accept, validate, sort and store banknotes quickly and reliably. These banknotes can then be made available to customers who wish to take out cash.

Bunch Note Acceptor:

Bunch Note Acceptor [BNA] is self-service terminal that enables customers to deposit cash without any manual intervention of the branch officer. To use the BNA, customers neednbfc to have Bank Debit Card or know the Bank’s 16 digit account number in which they wish to deposit the money.

Semi-Automatic Passbook (SAPB) Printing Machine:

Pass Book Printing Kiosk is a new technological self-servicing solution which can be placed at a convenient place so that customers can get their passbook updated at their convenience on their own.

Cheque Deposit Machine (CDM):

Cheque Deposit machine is a unique automated machine that accepts cheques and issues the depositor a scanned copy of the same with the date and time as an acknowledgement. This machine eliminates the dependence on human resources and speeds up the entire process, thus reduces time and effort spent on such transactions and also eases the collection process.

Automated Teller Machine (ATM):

Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is a machine that dispenses cash when a Debit card is inserted by the customer inside the card slot. Apart from the above, the customer can sidbienquire his account balance, can get the print out of last 5 transactions(mini statement), can change his PIN number, etc.