RBI asks banks to enable account number portability

Mumbai: RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra has asked banks to work towards account number portability as it will be a far-reaching step towards enhancing competition and improving customer service.

Speaking at the annual conference of banking ombudsmen here recently, he said banks should look forward to providing more choices to the new generation of customers who are more technology savvy.

"A scenario was thus emerging wherein customers would be able to silently walk out from one institution to another, in case of any dissatisfaction with the services," RBI said in a release on Monday, quoting Mundra.

Mundra said this will be further accentuated with the possibility of portability of accounts and urged the banks to work towards account number portability. Mundra also referred to issue of the rising trend of loss of cheques from drop boxes and the lack of alacrity shown by banks in redressing such complaints.

In such cases, the Deputy Governor suggested that the customer "must be compensated immediately".

He asked the banks to look at the possibility of setting up a common account and compensate the customers immediately from the pool, without waiting for recovery of the amount from insurance.

Referring to the tenets of the Charter of 'Customer Rights', Mundra asked the lenders and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to work towards evolving a common platform to provide a comparative and transparent view of various products and services.