Bank locker agreements: RBI’s conditions, customer complaints

Bank locker agreements: RBI’s conditions, customer complaints

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

Concept :

• The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) stipulation that bank locker owners should renew their locker agreements on a stamp paper within a set of new deadlines has sent locker owners scrambling to comply, as banks have started asking customers for inking new agreements on stamp papers and hiking charges across the board.
• The central bank had asked banks to notify all their customers of the revised requirements by April 30, 2023 and ensure that at least 50 per cent and 75 per cent of their existing customers have executed the revised agreements by June 30 and September 30, 2023 respectively.

Background:

• A New Bank Locker Rule has come into effect from January 1, 2023, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification.
• Over the past few days, many Banks have sent text messages to customers to renew their safe deposit locker agreements. As part of this, existing locker depositors were required to furnish proof of eligibility for a renewed locker arrangement.
• Additionally, they were required to sign a renewal agreement by December 31, 2022.
• While some customers have received messages regarding the bank locker agreement from their lenders, others are saying that they haven’t got any such instructions from their banks. This, indeed, leaves a question mark on the consequences for such locker-holders as the deadline has already lapsed.
• It is in this context, that RBI has extended the deadline for banks to renew locker agreements with existing locker customers in a phased manner to December 31, 2023.

Locker Agreement:

• At the time of allotment of the locker to a customer, the bank shall enter into an agreement with the customer to whom the locker facility is provided, on a paper duly stamped.
• A copy of the locker agreement in duplicate signed by both parties shall be furnished to the locker- hirer to know his/her rights and responsibilities. Original Agreement shall be retained with the bank’s branch where the locker is situated.