The recommendations were made in 3 broad categories:
Home Loans:
The panel recommended that banks should not impose exorbitant penal rates towards foreclosure of home loans. A policy should be devised to ensure that customers are not denied of opportunity to enhance their economic welfare by making choices such as switching to other banks/financial entities to enjoy the benefits conferred by market competition. Measures to stop practices of discriminating between new and old customers with identical risk profiles on the basis of interest rate offers were to be initiated.
Banks should automatically provide annual account statement to home loan customers. All home loan customers should be permitted a switchover between fixed to floating or vice versa at least once during the loan tenure at an appropriate and reasonable fee.
The panel recommended that home loans backed by insurance products, in any eventuality, to be automatically settled by the insurance amount with minimum inconvenience to the nominees and heirs. The title deeds should be returned to the customers within 15 days after the loan closure and a suitable compensatory policy to compensate the customers for delayed return of title deeds to be put in place.
Banks should ensure through government subsidy or insurance that educational loans are properly priced. The Board Approved Policy for educational loans should indicate the minimum percentage in value or number of such loans which will be disbursed to students from rural areas.
Senior Citizens:
There should be prioritised service to senior citizens, physically handicapped persons by effective crowd/people management available at all branches. The panel suggested introduction of provision of the SMS alerts service about balance in the account at periodic intervals and about due dates for submission of important documents.
Automatic updation of the customers to the senior citizen category based on the date of birth would be introduced. Pensioner may be allowed to submit the annual life certificate at any of the (linked) branches and not necessarily at the home branch.
Rural Areas:
According to the panel banks should ensure proper currency exchange facilities and also the quality of notes in circulation in rural areas. Branches should be made functioning at a time convenient to the customers (agricultural labourers, workers and artisans).
Other Recommendations:
Exchange facilities for soiled/torn notes is a right of every citizen using such facilities and the RBI, through its agents is to ensure that no holder of sovereign currency note is turned away at a bank counter when the exchange facility is desired. All banks should implement the citizens' charter on exchange facilities of notes and coins adopted by the Department of Currency Management, RBI.
The panel suggested documentation of the bank's approach to develop Client First Attitude by its employees.
Instant blocking of lost ATM cards through SMS and immediate restoration of funds in case of non-dispensation of cash at an ATM were some of the other recommendations made by the Reserve Bank of India's committee on customer service.
For compensation to be paid by the banks for transaction deficiencies there should be in-built into the core banking system (CBS) software. As a measure of risk management, call centres as well as the online systems through Net banking should enable a customer to fix individual transaction limits for debit/credit card use, debar or fix limits for purchase of electronic or jewellery items.
The panel is in favour of standardisation of account opening form by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA).
Users (utilities, airlines, and railways) of electronic bank platforms for making collections may offer small discounts to their customers to favour electronic payments.
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