A claimant may submit the claim to one of the bank branches against recognition, according to the Concept Circular – Reserve Bank of India (settlement of claims with regard to deceased customers of banks) directions, 2025 | Photocredit: Dhiraj Singh
Banks will make available in their branches, as well as websites standardized forms and other documents that are necessary for the settlement of claims with regard to deposit bills and safe depositor -Locker/ articles in safe custody that is stored by a deceased customer, according to the concept circular of RBI.
Furthermore, for the convenience of the claimants, banks will also display the list of documents on their website that must be submitted by a claimant and the procedure that must be followed for the settlement of claims in different scenarios.
Delay in the settlement of the claims
A time limit of 15 days has been proposed for the settlement of claims and compensation will be paid for a delay in the settlement of claims to the claimants.
As part of the proposed simplified RBI procedure for the settlement of claims in the case of accounts without nominated/ surviving clause, the Central Bank said that a bank, based on its risk management systems, can resolve a threshold limit, subject to a minimum of £ 15 lakh.
A claimant may submit the claim to one of the bank branches against recognition, according to the Concept Circular – Reserve Bank of India (settlement of claims with regard to deceased customers of banks) directions, 2025.
In the event that all required documents required for the processing of the claim have been submitted by the claimant, the bank will also give a confirmation in this context.
In the case of current or incomplete/ incorrect documents, the bank will, however, intimate the claimant on the list of such documents together with the recognition.
With the subsequent submission of all required documents, the bank will give a confirmation to the claimant that all required documents have been received for the processing of the claim.
After a claimant uploads the claim form together with the required documents, the bank will send recognition/ confirmation via suitable channels and also make the provision available for following the status of the claim online.
In such cases, if the plaintiff’s bank requires that he produces original documents for submission or verification, the same must be done in one of its branches.
A bank must arrange a claim with regard to deposit accounts of a deceased customer within a period of a maximum of 15 calendar days from the date of receipt of all required documents that are linked to the claim.
In the case of safe/ items in safe deposits in safe detention, the bank must process the claim and process communication within 15 days of receiving all required documents for determining the date for inventorying the locker/ items in safe detention.
Compensation
If a deposit -related claim is not settled within the specified time frame, the bank will communicate the reasons for such a delay to the claimants.
Furthermore, in cases of delay that can be attributed to the bank, the reimbursement will be paid in the form of interest, no less than the prevailing bank rate of + 4 percent per year, on the settlement amount due for the delay period.
The reference date for paying the amount due and the prevailing bank rate is the date of receipt of all required documents from the claimant.
In the case of claims with regard to safe/ items in safe deposit in safe detention, the bank must pay the claimants a fee at the rate of £ 5,000 for each day of delay, in cases where it does not comply with the prescribed timeline.
Published on August 7, 2025
#RBI #disputes #time #limit #days #arrange #claims #regard #deposit #deceased #customer #ACS #Safe #Deposit #Locker