RBI extends deadline for banks to renew safe deposit locker agreements

Banks have been advised to make necessary arrangements to facilitate the execution of the revised agreements by ensuring the availability of stamp papers, etc, the RBI said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 23 extended the deadline for banks to complete the process of renewal of agreements for the existing safe deposit locker holders.

The deadline will be extended in a phased manner by December 31, 2023, with intermediate milestones of 50 percent by June 30, 2023, and 75 percent by September 30, 2023, the RBI said in a release.

Further, banks have been advised to make necessary arrangements to facilitate the execution of the revised agreements by ensuring the availability of stamp papers, etc, the RBI said.

Further, in cases where operations in lockers have been frozen for non-execution of the agreement by January 1, 2023, the same shall be unfrozen with immediate effect, the central bank said.

In its circular dated August 18, 2021, the RBI had issued revised instructions with respect to the Safe Deposit Locker/Safe Custody Article Facility that required banks to enter into revised agreements with the existing locker holders by January 1, 2023.

“However, it has come to the notice of RBI that a large number of customers are yet to sign the revised agreement. In many cases, the banks are yet to inform the customers about the need to do so before the stipulated date (January 1, 2023),” the RBI said.

Earlier, some customers of State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, ICICI Bank, and Union Bank had complained on social media about the process of locker renewals.

The complaints pertained to the difficulties including signing the new agreements and the lack of timely information about the new rules.

Some customers said they were informed about the rule changes late, which created more problems for their renewals.

According to the earlier circular, the revised rules on bank lockers were applicable to existing customers from January 2023 and were already in force for new customers from January 2022.

The RBI had made it mandatory for banks to install CCTVs to monitor locker rooms and to store the footage for 180 days. Also, banks were told to send SMS and emails every time customers accessed their lockers as a step against fraud.

Besides, the central bank also asked banks to sign board-approved agreements with customers for safe deposit lockers and allowed them to adopt a model agreement framed by the Indian Banks’ Association.