Mumbai, Nov 16 (FN Agency) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday urged banks to revamp and strengthen their grievance redressal mechanisms to minimise the escalation of grievances to the central bank ombudsman in the interest of customers. “Banks should also ensure fair treatment of customers and avoid mis-selling through proper sensitisation of staff and direct selling agents. The product sold to the customer should be suitable and appropriate for his/her risk profile,” Das said while addressing SBI Banking & Economics Conclave.
He noted that under the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme and even under the earlier Ombudsman Schemes, only the complaints pending beyond 30 days with the Regulated Entities (including banks) are dealt with by the RBI Ombudsman. “Thirty days is a very reasonable period for resolution of customer complaints,” the RBI Governor said. Listing out various risks and challenges for banks going forward, he said that as the support measures start unwinding, some of the restructured accounts might face solvency issues over the coming quarters. “Prudence would warrant proactive recognition of such non-viable firms for pragmatic resolution measures,” he noted.
Das said that the ongoing digitalisation of finance has led to positive disruptions on many fronts and the RBI has been actively fostering innovation in this cross-fertilised space by envisaging mechanisms like regulatory sandbox for fintechs, co-lending models, account aggregators etc. “We would expect lending institutions to leverage upon these mechanisms to enhance the overall customer experience, product customisation, adoption of alternative credit appraisal methodologies, monitoring measures, among others,” the Governor said.