trends to strengthen our own codes and commitments to the customers. consumers ’ lack of financial literacy – financial literacy includes knowledge of financial concepts and sound practices such as budgeting, but also the contractual rights and recourse procedures open to consumers. internationally, financial education, awareness and financial literacy are being accorded the highest priority in the scheme of financial consumer protection. where are we placed in this regard? the efforts like setting up of flccs are only a small measure considering the gigantic task we have at hand. whether or not mentioned in the bcsbi ’ s codes, can we bankers not make a commitment to put financial education and awareness on a mission mode and promise to deliver on our commitments? conclusion as we go forward, a major challenge is how to strike a balance between the twin objectives of increasing financial access / banking penetration vis - a - vis improving the quality of customer service and customer protection. while in the long run it will converge, in the short run, the dilemma and the tradeoff underlying the debate between financial access and financial consumer protection may be very real to the governments and policy makers. after all, developed countries have both high levels of access to formal financial sector, and relatively elaborate financial consumer protection measures after four decades of evolution. the financial consumer protection regimes in countries like india are still evolving. bcsbi needs to persuade banks to achieve convergence in an effective manner by adopting a voluntary and self - regulatory approach. it will be a great service to the society if bcsbi, banks and all of us collectively are able to achieve this. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. bis central bankers ’ speeches

10002 : 2004 standard for reviewing the effectiveness and efficiency of the complaints handling process. adherence to this particular standard focuses on conferring the following benefits viz., management system customer satisfaction, management focus, brand improvement, credibility, customer confidence improved efficiency better relationship continual improvement transparent system auditable system synchronisation the standards has eight clauses, the first three are scope, normative reference and terms and definitions. the other five are : guiding principles complaints handling framework planning and design operations of the complaints handling process maintenance and improvement it is gathered from the bureau of indian standards that only two banks in the country ( private sector banks ) have so far adopted this standard. i urge the governing council of bcsbi to examine if adoption of an iso standard for grievance redressal could be considered for inclusion in the code of bank ’ s commitment to customers. the banks may on their own explore the possibility of adopting the iso standards. the office of fair trading, united kingdom has carried out several case studies to evaluate consumer credit intervention strategies. the case studies highlight the fact that vulnerable groups are particularly exposed to the risks of being misled by advertising. such action is treated as “ non - compliance ” with statutory provisions. we also need to look at some such robust provisions in our codes / statutes. the global financial crisis of 2008 had demonstrated that credit markets are fragile and not only because of the risk of political meddling ; borrowers also have tended to exhibit systematic vulnerabilities which compromise their financial decision – making capability. for many governments round the globe, the question is no longer “ to protect or not to protect the financial sector consumer? ” it is “ when and how ”. the global practices / regulatory measures for borrowers protection fall into three conventional categories ; disclosures, product based and provider based regulation. the current global trend is towards making disclosure regulation more stringent and robust. in particular, these regulations focus on prescribing the manner in which the interest rate and other charges must be calculated and disclosed. it may be the annual percentage rate ( apr ) as is favoured in the usa, which may also be easy to understand, or it may be the bis central bankers ’ speeches total cost of credit ( tcc ), the concept that is widely used in south africa. the product based regulation focuses on common elements such as right to cancel, prohibited behaviour and right of grievances redressal. we need to pick up the good aspects of these emerging global