The Reserve bank of India (RBI) has issued a new set of guidelines to banks as if there is any locker that is not being operated for more than one year; the banks have the permission to break the lockers.
The guidelines have been issued in view of rising security threats in the country. There has been some incidents reported about the explosives and weapons kept in bank lockers.
According to the new guidelines, in case the locker remains un-operated for more than one year, the bank would have the right to cancel the allotment of the locker and open the locker. It does not matter that the rent is being paid on regular basis or not.
The banks will have to send official notice to the customer to explain the reason for having lockers that is un-operated for more than one year.
From now, the banks will add this clause for the customers who need to open a new locker in any bank.
Further, the RBI has also directed the banks to strictly follow the ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) guidelines before permitting the lockers.
The RBI has clearly stated in the guidelines that banks should contact the customers who have not operated the lockers for one year (in case of high-risk customers) or three years (in case of medium-risk customers).
Those customers should be conveyed that they should either operate the locker or surrender it.
The RBI has also suggested the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) to come out with a simple Model Operational Procedure (MOP) for settlement of claims from the customers’ side.
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