Dear Colleagues,
After the recent guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) & Indian Bank's Association (IBA) detailing on accessibility of banks and its services for the disabled and elderly, needs of certain disabilities under the National Trust etc, the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) which lays down the voluntary codes adopted by banks has in its 2014 revised version of the code has prominently dedicated a section on Senior Citizens and Differently abled.
This is a voluntary Code of Customer Rights, which sets minimum standards of banking practices member banks have to follow while they deal with individual customers. It provides protection to customers and explains how banks are expected to deal with customers in their day-to-day operations.
The extract of Section 11 from the recently revised Code is reproduced for your information below:
Extract from Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers – January 2014
11. SENIOR CITIZENS AND DIFFERENTLY ABLED PERSONS
a. We will make our best efforts to make it easy and convenient for our special customers like senior citizens, differently abled and illiterate persons to bank with us. This will include making convenient policies, products and services for such applicants and customers.
b. We will endeavour to develop systems and procedures to improve access to banking services by you.
c. We will endeavour to make physical access to our branches and ATMs convenient for you.
d. We will sensitise our staff interacting with you to assist you in carrying out your banking transactions.
e. In addition to all the other commitments made in this Code –
i. We will accord due priority to you. We will endeavour to provide you personalized services for banking transactions and redressal of grievances.
ii. We will endeavour to provide seating arrangements in the banking hall.iii. We will endeavour to provide you our services through a Single Window mechanism.iv. We will permit withdrawal of your funds, up to limits set by you, by persons authorized by you on production of the authorization letter and passbook.v. We will endeavour to provide ‘Doorstep’ banking (pick up of cash /instruments for credit to the account or delivery of cash / demand drafts against issue of cheque / requisition in writing) in special circumstances like ill health, inability to come to the branch, etc.vi. We will issue a pension slip to you (pensioners) containing details of the pension credited to your account.vii. We will endeavour to arrange to disburse the pension at the doorstep, in special circumstances.viii. We will accept the Life Certificate that is required to be submitted by you (pensioners) at any branch of our bank.ix. We will guide relatives / parents of disabled persons on how to appoint a legal guardian, under the National Trust Act, 1999, for disabled persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities who can then open and operate accounts for such persons.x. We will ensure that all the banking facilities such as cheque book facility, ATM facility, Net banking facility, locker facility, retail loans, credit cards etc., are invariably offered to the visually challenged without any discrimination.xi. We will render all possible assistance to the visually challenged for availing various banking facilities.xii. We will endeavour to arrange regular meetings so that you may voice your concerns and benefit from collective experience.
To read the entire code, please click the link: Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers – January 2014
