You may have submitted know your customer (KYC) documents at the time of opening a bank account or when the banks demanded it. Still, you may need to update your KYC details with your banks from time to time. Now the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stepped in to ease the process of completing your re-KYC.
In a release dated January 5, 2023, the RBI said that it has advised banks to provide the facility of self-declaration (for the purpose of re-KYC) to individual customers through various non-face-to-face channels like registered email ID, registered mobile number, ATMs, online banking, mobile application, internet banking, letter addressed to the bank, others. These methods for re-KYC do not require a visit to the bank branch.
“Further, if there is only a change in address, customers can furnish revised / updated addresses through any of these channels after which, the bank would undertake verification of the declared address within two months,” said RBI.
The Need
Under the framework prescribed in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2022 (PMLA) and its rules, banks and other institutions need to periodically update the KYC records of their customers.
From time to time, RBI has taken measures to rationalize KYC-related activities and used the available technological options in order to streamline the end customer experience. In May 2021, this periodic KYC update (re-KYC) process was further simplified.
At present, customers are allowed to give a self-declaration to complete the re-KYC process.
Valid Documents For KYC?
Banks are mandated to keep their customer’s records up-to-date and relevant, which is why they undertake periodic reviews and updates, when required.
The list of ‘officially valid documents’ for KYC consists of passport, driving license, proof of possession of Aadhaar number, voter identity card, job card issued by NREGA, letter issued by the National Population Register, and others.
Banks provide an acknowledgment of the receipt of the KYC documents or self-declaration (as the case may be) to the customer.
Fresh KYC can also be done via video-based customer identification process (V-CIP), but not all bank branches may have the facility to enable it. In that case, visiting the bank branch is of course an option. This is yet another move in a series that RBI has taken to ease processes for customers in the last few years.
Earlier in April 2022, RBI announced four consumer-centric developments centered around Bharat Bill Payment System, Cardless cash withdrawal using Unified Payment Interface (UPI), cyber security aspects of bank card payments, and had set up a new consumer focused committee.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in April that in view of the transformation underway in the financial landscape due to innovations in products and services, deepening of digital penetration and emergence of various service providers, “it is proposed to set up a committee to examine and review the current state of customer service in the RBI-regulated entities, adequacy of the customer service regulations, and suggest measures to improve the same.”
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