More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025

--RBI notifies norms on nomination facility in deposit accounts

NEW DELHI – The Reserve Bank of India Tuesday notified directions for the nomination facility in deposit accounts, safe custody articles, and safety lockers. The norms will come into effect from Saturday and repeal parts of 31 prior circulars. The norms were reviewed after changes to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 earlier this year, the central bank said.

The RBI had in January told all banks and deposit-taking non-banking finance companies to strictly obtain nomination for all such accounts from existing and new customers. These deposit-taking instituions have had to provide quarterly report reviewing the nomination coverage to the central bank quarterly since Mar. 31. The new directions notified Tuesday are only applicable to banks, the RBI said.

Banks shall offer nomination facilities to all accounts, including those under the proprietorship of an individual for business purposes. They must indicate the nomination facility in the form for opening a deposit account or safe custody agreement. The bank shall inform all new account holders about the benefits of the nomination facility and must endeavour to get a written declaration from the individual that they decline putting in a nomination, the RBI said.

"Under no circumstances shall a prospective customer be denied or delayed in opening an account solely on the ground of refusal to make a nomination, provided all other requirements for account opening are satisfactorily met," the directions said.

Banks must acknowledge a customer's documents on the registration, removal or change of nominees. The status of the nomination and the nominee name should be included in the customer's passbook or statement of account and term deposit receipt, the RBI said. Where a nomination does not meet legal or regulatory guidelines and is rejected, banks must inform the customer within three working days the reason for the rejection.  End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Aaryan Khanna

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.