escalated before giving final verdict to the complainant. only in cases where the customer remained unsatisfied with the resolution should she need to approach the bo. a continuous rise in the number of complaints to the bo is perhaps a pointer to the fact that the institution of ibo has not been very effective or has not been empowered enough by the management. it would be appropriate for the banks to invest in an efficient technology platform which doesn ’ t merely aggregates and tracks the complaints but also undertakes a root cause analysis of various complaints received, thereby enabling proactive preventive action. tthe pccos and ibo could collaborate in identifying areas where the frontline staff needed clearer operational instructions and provide them training / handholding. this is extremely important in a scenario where pace of staff attrition / staff rotation have risen significantly. the banks could also contemplate investing in a technology - aided faq platform which the frontline staff could consult 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches for addressing customers ’ queries rather than misinforming them. i wonder whether time has come to prescribe some mandatory qualifications for the pccos also in line with that for the cfos / ctos. that said, rbi would be conducting an assessment of the efficacy of the ibos during the supervisory visits and would expect the bank management to bring more synergy into the working of the pccos and the ibos for a speedier and efficient grievance redressal. c. electronic banking – security issues technology is being increasingly used in delivery of banking services in recent years. however, it has also brought in associated risks of security as is evident in few high profile cyber - incidents in the recent past. there have been several incidents of theft of personal information, fraudulent use of atms, net banking frauds, atm / debit card incidents or cases of unauthorized access to bank servers. hence, there is an immediate need for plugging all the gaps and vulnerabilities in tech - enabled service delivery. with greater thrust on digital banking especially in the wake of withdrawal of legal tender status of specified bank notes and consequent increase in complaints relating to unauthorised / fraudulent transactions, a need for having a comprehensive policy to limit the liability of customers cannot be over - emphasized. rbi had come out with a draft circular on “ customer protection – limiting liability of customers in unauthorised electronic banking transactions ” earlier and based on feedback received from the concerned stakeholders, final guidelines

s s mundra : customer service in banks - time to raise the bar! keynote address by mr s s mundra, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the annual conference of principal code compliance officers, organized by the banking codes and standards board of india, mumbai, 30 may 2017. * * * shri a. c. mahajan, chairman, banking codes and standards board of india ( bcsbi ) ; shri anand aras, ceo, bcsbi ; colleagues from the banking industry ; representatives from the media ; ladies and gentlemen! at the outset, i would like to thank bcsbi for inviting me for this annual conference of the principal code compliance officers ( pccos ) in the banks. 2. during the past 12 years of its existence, bcsbi has played a pivotal role in enhancing awareness about customer service in banks. the code of bank ’ s commitment to customers and the code of bank ’ s commitment to micro and small enterprises developed by bcsbi set out common minimum standards for customer service in banks. 3. monitoring of compliance to the codes by member banks is one of the mandates of bcsbi which is fulfilled through visits to a representative sample of branches by authorized representatives of bcsbi. bcsbi, thus, helps the banks by providing an independent review and feedback on their adherence in practice, to the self - prescribed standards. from 2013, bcsbi has been rating banks on code compliance based on the inputs from branch visits and customers feedback. this rating indicates level of implementation of important provisions of these codes at the first customer touch point in the bank. a release now of these ratings in public domain is intended to increase transparency, generate public awareness and also instill a sense of competition among the member banks for achieving a higher level of customer service. a perusal of the ratings, however, does not exhibit any significant improvement in consumer service rating of banks. only 12 of the 46 banks rated by bcsbi received ‘ high ’ rating in terms of performance while 24 were above average and 10 remained as ‘ average ’ performers. in fact, the position has marginally worsened since 2015 survey. 4. despite outlining of minimum standards for customer service through codification of banks ’ commitments to customers, we observe that the number of complaints received by the offices of banking ombudsmen continues to rise. for the first time since its inception in 1995, the number of complaints to bos exceeded one lakh last year.