"Be aware of your rights and demand them. Banks are duty bound to give a copy of banking codes to every customer. So don't allow it to gather dust,'' Chairman of Banking Codes and Standards Board of India A C Mahajan has said.
Urging customers to force banks improve customer service and not suffer silently, he said: ''The codes takes care of 70 to 80 per cent of customer-related activity. The objective of such an exercise is to promote fair banking practices, increase transparency and above all promote and foster customers' confidence in the banking system. Our study shows that the compliance of the codes is just around 60 per cent. We therefore urge you to seek your rights and force banks improve customer service.''
Mr Mahajan was addressing a Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) Customer Meet at Rathna Residency in Coimbatore.
Bankers in the city were invited to attend this meeting along with select customers. It is an exercise to spread awareness about customers' right and ensure transparency in banking services, the speakers said.
Interestingly, when Mr Mahajan sought to understand how many of the invitees were in receipt of a copy of the codes, not more than 40 raised their hands. The BCSBI Chairman immediately put the number to the bank representatives present at the event, and urged the customers to demand a copy of the same.
Customer service meets
He further said that the BCSBI has been impressing the managements of various banks to form a customer service committee and organise a meet at least once a month. "But our survey reveals that 80 per cent of the banks are not holding customer service meets.''
“While banks have a right to sell insurance products to secure the assets on which banks have a charge, they cannot insist upon the customer to buy the product of a particular insurance company. Are you aware of this? Similarly, banks are duty bound to provide a pass book and not insist on giving you a statement, unless you agree to the same,'' he said, highlighting select rights of the customer.