Mumbai:
As a matter of financial consumer protection, the Reserve Bank of India, on Friday has announced ‘One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach for grievance redressal by merging three Ombudsman schemes- Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies and Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions that are in operation from 22 ombudsman offices of RBI located across the country..
The Integrated Ombudsman Scheme will be rolled out in June 2021 and intended to make the process of redress of grievances easier by enabling the customers of the banks, NBFCs and non-bank issuers of PPIs to register their complaints under the integrated scheme, with one centralised reference point, said the RBI..
Setting up of a 24×7 Helpline for Digital Payment Services
The major payment system operators would be required to facilitate setting-up of a centralised industry-wide 24×7 helpline for addressing customer queries in respect of various digital payment products and give information on available grievance redress mechanisms by September 2021.
The helpline will, in addition to building trust and confidence, also reduce expenditure on both financial and human resources, otherwise incurred for addressing queries and grievances.
Many safety and security features and measures for redress of grievances have been ushered in by the RBI for enhanced digital payments experience of users. The Payment Systems Vision document of RBI envisages setting up a 24×7 helpline for addressing customer queries in respect of various digital payment products.
Going forward, the facility of registering and resolving the customer complaints through the helpline shall be considered, said RBI
Allowing Retail Investors to Open Gilt Accounts with RBI
As part of continuing efforts to increase retail participation in government securities and to improve ease of access, the RBI has has decided to move beyond aggregator model and provide retail investors online access to the government securities market – both primary and secondary – along with the facility to open their gilt securities account (‘Retail Direct’) with the RBI. Details of the facility will be issued separately.
Encouraging retail participation in the Government securities market has been the focus area of the Government of India and the RBI.
Accordingly, several initiatives viz. introduction of non-competitive bidding in primary auctions, permitting stock exchanges to act as aggregators/facilitators for retail investors and allowing odd-lot segment in the NDS-OM secondary market, have been taken in the past.
Remittances to International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme
At present, resident individuals are not allowed to make remittances to IFSCs established in India under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). In order to deepen the financial markets in IFSCs and provide an opportunity to resident individuals to diversify their portfolio, on a review, it has been decided to permit resident individuals to make remittances to IFSCs established in India under the Scheme.
Since remittances towards current account transactions like travel, education, gifts and capital account transactions like purchase of immovable property are not relevant with respect to IFSCs in India, remittances will be permitted only for making investments in securities issued by the non-resident entities in IFSCs.
Resident Individuals may also open a non-interest bearing Foreign Currency Account (FCA) in IFSCs for making investments under LRS.
The funds in the FCA shall be used only for the purpose of making permissible investments in IFSC and any funds lying idle in the account shall be repatriated to resident account of the investor in India within a period of 15 days from receipt. Detailed guidelines in the form of an AP DIR Circular shall be issued shortly.
Guidelines on Outsourcing for Operators and Participants of Authorised Payment Systems
The operators and participants of various authorised payment systems carry out a bouquet of specialised activities on account of the products offered by them and design of payment systems they operate. Often, such activities are outsourced to optimise efficiency and lower costs. However, vulnerabilities in the systems of entities who provide such outsourced services can pose cyber security risks to the principal entity.
To manage the attendant risks in outsourcing and ensure that a code of conduct is adhered to while outsourcing payment and settlement related services, the Reserve Bank shall issue guidelines to operators and participants of authorised payment systems.