Page 8 - Banking Finance December 2017

BANK UPDATE

Mandatory intimation for loan cover withdrawal Fir lodged for ornaments

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has asked the State Bank 'go missing' from private
of India to "adjust" the home loan of a customer who
died during the term of his personal accident cover. bank locker
The panel had noted that the bank had failed to Manju Agarwal, earlier resident of
inform the family of Venkata Rao, the borrower, Kolkata,
about having stopped the policy midway. Post ob- Old China
servation, the Commission asked Banks to manda- Bazar
torily inform customers through a personal notice area re-
before discontinuing any insurance policy provided as a cover for loans. cently
The state consumer forum's order was upheld asking the bank to pay Rs 15,000 lodged an
as legal expenses to Rao's wife Lakshmi, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, besides FIR at the Burrabazar Police Station
adjusting the home loan. when noticed ornaments of Rs. 25
lakhs go missing from her locker at
"I agree with the order of the state commission that the bank, having offered a private bank account.
an accident cover as one of the conditions of the (loan) sanction letter, should
not have discontinued the policy suo motu without informing the insured... the According to the complaint, police
bank was bound to inform the insured not only by publication in a newspaper said, "The victim had last accessed
but also mandatorily by personal notice so that they could make alternative her locker on January 2016. She had
arrangements...," the commission said. decided to close her locker and went
to withdraw her deposits last Tues-
Rao had taken two housing loans, of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 5.8 lakh, in 2009 under an
agreement that in case of death, the dues could be adjusted from his insurance, day. It was then that she finally
the complaint filed by his wife said. found out about the missing orna-
ments. The first job will be to estab-
He died in an accident in October 2013 but the bank refused to adjust the loan lish the veracity of the claims. If
against the insurance, saying the policy had been discontinued from July 1, 2013. found true, we are preparing a list
SBI later sent notices to auction the properties. of persons who need to be ques-

tioned," said a senior officer at
Vigilance Excellence Award for IDBI Bank Lalbazar.
Suneet Kumar Mathur, Executive Director and CVO of IDBI Bank Ltd received "On the face of it, is very difficult to
the Vigilance Excellence Award - 2017 for excellent con- break in a bank locker," an officer,
tribution in the category of 'Vigilance Awareness Ini- who spoke to the bank officials, said.
tiative', from the Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu in "However enquiries are on," he
a programme held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Min-
added.
ister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh and Central Vigilance
Commissioner KV Chowdary were also present. The awards were instituted by For awareness, the agreement of a
the Central Vigilance Commission. leading private sector bank says,
"The bank shall not be responsible or
ECGC and US Exim signs Memorandum liable for any loss or deterioration of
or damage to the contents of the
Geetha Muralidhar, Chairman cum Managing Director of ECGC and Charles J Hall,
Chairman and President (acting) of US EXIM signed a locker whether caused by rain, fire,
Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of flood, earthquake, lightning, civil
Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Indus- commotion, war, riot or any other
try and Wilbur Ross, Secretary Commerce of US Gov- causes not in the control of the bank
ernment on the occasion of the India-US Trade Policy and shall also not be liable or re-
sponsible for any loss, sustained by
Forum Commercial Dialogue held in Washington DC, US. The agreement includes
the hirers by leaving any articles
exchange of information on trade and business opportunities to further the goal
of facilitating trade between the countries. outside the locker."

8 | 2017 | DECEMBER | BANKING FINANCE

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