RBI Internal Ombudsman Scheme strengthens complaint review norms

Key facts

• The Reserve Bank of India has strengthened the review mechanism within regulated entities before they reject or partially resolve a customer complaint.
• All complaints that are partially resolved or wholly rejected by the internal grievance redress mechanism shall be auto escalated to the office of the internal ombudsman for a review.
• An internal ombudsman shall either be a retired or serving officer, in the rank equivalent to a general manager in the regulated entity, appointed for a three-year period and must be below 70 before completion of tenure.
• The internal ombudsman shall report to the competent authority of the entity administratively, and to the customer service committee of the board, and shall be designated as a permanent invitee to the meetings of the customer service committee of the board.
• The directions apply to commercial banks, small finance banks, payments banks, non-banking finance companies, non-bank prepaid payment instrument issuers and credit information companies.