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The Reserve Bank of
India today constituted a Working Group to formulate a scheme for ensuring reasonableness
of bank charges and to incorporate them in the Fair Practices Code. The compliance
of Fair Practices Code would be monitored by the Banking Codes and Standards
Board of India. The members of the Working Group will be:
1. Shri N. Sadasivan, Banking Ombudsman, Mumbai – Chairman
2. Shri S. Diwakara, All India Depositors' Association
3. Shri H.N. Sinor, Chief Executive Officer, Indian Banks
Association
4. Shri P. Saran, Chief General Manager, DBOD
5. Shri Kaza Sudhakar, CGM, RPCD – Member Secretary
The terms of reference of the Working Group will be:
i. To enumerate the various basic banking/financial
services rendered to individual customers for which the scheme should be
applicable.
ii. To study the basis/methodology adopted
by banks for fixing the quantum of charges/fees for such services and to
enunciate the principles that could be considered as fair.
iii. To evolve a scheme for ensuring the
reasonableness of fixing/changing and notifying service charges based on
the principles enunciated under (2) above.
iv. To suggest suitable additions to the
Fair Practices code in regard to the scheme to be evolved in terms of (3)
above.
v. To suggest measures for monitoring compliance
to the relative provisos in the Fair Practices Code by the Banking Codes
and Standards Board of India.
vi. Any other relevant matter.
The Group is expected to submit its report by
the end of July 2006.
It may be recalled that Paragraph 162 of
the Annual Policy Statement 2006-07 observed that the Reserve Bank continued
to receive representations from the public about unreasonable and non-transparent
service charges being levied by banks indicating that the existing institutional
mechanism in this regard was not adequate. The Policy also proposed to constitute
a working group to formulate a scheme for ensuring reasonableness of bank charges.
Alpana Killawala
Chief General Manager
Press Release : 2005-2006/1490
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