RBI Organizes Annual Conference of the RBI Ombudsmen

Annual Conference of RBI Ombudsmen:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently conducted the Annual Conference of RBI Ombudsmen in Mumbai on March 15, 2024. The conference centered around the theme of “Protecting the Consumers – Building Robust Systems and Procedures.” Prominent attendees included Chairman/Managing Director & CEOs of regulated entities from major banks, NBFCs, Non-bank Payment System Participants, NPCI, senior officials of RBI, as well as the RBI Ombudsmen and Deputy RBI Ombudsmen.

Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das inaugurated the conference, while Shri Dipak Misra, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, delivered the keynote address. Shri Misra highlighted the unique features of the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021, which includes a broader definition of “deficiency in service,” centralization of operations, and an emphasis on procedural justice. He emphasized the need to increase customer awareness about the scheme and its benefits, such as the ability to file complaints from anywhere, automatic acknowledgement of online complaints, real-time tracking of complaint status, and communication regarding the Ombudsman’s decision.

Deputy Governors Shri M Rajeshwar Rao and Shri Swaminathan J also addressed the conference, underscoring the Reserve Bank’s initiatives in consumer protection and grievance redressal. They emphasized the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach in designing products and establishing effective grievance redressal mechanisms at regulated entities.

The conference featured sessions on global perspectives on alternate grievance redressal and the development of resilient systems for fraud prevention and detection. It concluded with an interactive session among the Ombudsmen.

Overall, the conference provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss and strengthen systems and procedures aimed at safeguarding consumer interests and ensuring efficient grievance redressal in the financial sector.

Press Release Reference: 2023-2024/2069

Note: The above summary is based on the content of the press release accessed from the Reserve Bank of India’s official website.

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