'RBI Just Taking Baby Steps On Customer Rights'
Spelling out the five rights of customers the RBI has said that the FSPs should not threaten their customers with physical harm or exert influence that is outside the normal and reasonable business practice.
The FSPs should not engage in behaviour that would reasonably be construed as unwarranted harassment. As per the draft charter, FSPs should not discriminate unfairly against any customer on grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste and physical ability.
“The financial services provider may, however, have certain special products which are specifically designed for members of a target market group or may use defensible, commercially acceptable economic rationale for discriminating between customers,” the draft states.
According to RBI, customers should approach the available internal resolution/grievance redressal mechanism before approaching alternate fora.
The alternate forums are the Banking Ombudsman (for complaints against banks) and consumer courts. As per RBI’s latest annual report, the Banking Ombudsman gets around 70,000 complaints from banking customers.
To save the customers from difficult legal language, the RBI states that FSPs should provide customers with product terms and conditions in an easily understandable simple language.
They should also specify the key risks associated with the product and also the features that may be disadvantageous for a customer. As per the draft, FSPs should also advise customers on their rights and obligations embedded in laws or regulations, as well as the need to report any critical incidents that they encounter, suspect or discover.
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