Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Banking Ombudsman Scheme

Mains level: Not Much

Issues related to ATM/debit cards and mobile/electronic banking were the top grounds of complaints received at the Office of Banking Ombudsman (OBO).

Why in news?

Of these, 3,04,496 complaints were handled by the 22 Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs), including the complaints received under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes till November 11, 2021.
Complaints related to ATM/ debit cards were the highest at 14.6% of the total, followed by mobile/ electronic banking at 13.6%.
About 90% of the total complaints were received through digital modes, including on the online Complaint Management System (CMS) portal.
Majority 66.1% of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement/ conciliation/ mediation.

Banking Ombudsman Scheme

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is an expeditious and inexpensive forum for bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks.
It is introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995.
Presently the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (As amended upto July 1, 2017) is in operation.
All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.
As per the present regulations, the ombudsman redressal is allowed for complaints where the compensation amount for any loss suffered by the complainant is limited to Rs 20 lakh.
Under the RBI-OS, 2021, following the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman’ principle, the territorial jurisdictions have been abrogated, and complaints are assigned to all the ombudsmen by the CMS.

The Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RBIOS) amalgamates three ombudsman scheme of RBI – banking ombudsman scheme of 2006, ombudsman scheme for NBFCs of 2018 and ombudsman scheme of digital transactions of 2019.
The unified ombudsman scheme will provide redress of customer complaints involving deficiency in services if the grievance is not resolved to the satisfaction of the customers or not replied within a period of 30 days.
The new scheme also includes non-scheduled primary co-operative banks with a deposit size of Rs 50 crore and above.
The integrated scheme makes it a “One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach and jurisdiction neutral.