The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced to make the process of settlement of claims of money deposited in the bank account and jewellery or other valuables kept in the locker easy and uniform (standard). After the death of a bank account holder or locker holder, the process of claim related to his bank account and locker will be easy. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that the process of settlement of claims will be made easy and transparent.
Claim Settlement Made Transparent
The objective of this initiative is to make claim settlement more transparent, easy and customer-friendly, so that the nominee or legal heir of the deceased account holder faces minimum hassle. And they can get their rights to the things in the bank account and locker without any hassle.
Banks have adopted different processes for the claim settlement of bank accounts (Deposit) and locker (Bank Locker). Due to this, the nominee or legal heirs face difficulties and delays in getting the rights to money or valuables. This problem will be solved by standardising the rules related to claim settlement.
State or Central Cooperative Bank
Every bank has to have a clear and board-approved policy on how claims related to accounts or lockers of deceased customers will be settled. This policy should be as per RBI regulations and the model operational procedure formulated by IBA (Indian Banks Association). If the bank is a state or central cooperative bank, then the procedure should be as per the model operational procedure formulated by NABARD.
Safety Locker
Banks are required to have a Board-approved policy governing the delivery of safe deposit in a safety locker or safe depository to a nominee and the protection afforded to such nominee from claims by others.
This should be by Sections 45 ZC to 45 ZF of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and the Nomination Rules 1985 (for both banking companies and co-operative banks), the Indian Contract Act and the Indian Succession Act.
To ensure that the locker or safe depository is returned to the rightful nominee and that the death certificate is duly verified, banks are required to frame their claim formats which comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Locker Of The Deceased Person
RBI has instructed that banks must ensure that the claim related to the locker of the deceased person is settled within a maximum of 15 days, and the contents of the locker are handed over to the survivor or nominee. This time limit will be considered from the date of receipt of the claim application. Provided that the death certificate of the deceased person and the identity of the person making the claim, as per the nomination, are received to the satisfaction of the bank.
