Mumbai, Dec. 4: Relaxing the norms on bank lockers, the RBI today said there should not be any pre-conditions, such as opening a fixed deposit with the bank, to get a locker, beyond what is prescribed by the apex bank.

In the draft guidelines on lockers issued today, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said such practices should be stopped immediately.

“If the locker-hirer is having a fixed deposit with the bank, it can be earmarked for an amount so that the interest covers the locker rental as an alternative to collecting the annual locker rental in advance,” the apex bank said.

The guidelines replace all instructions issued by RBI earlier, and banks have been asked to submit their feedback by December 23.

The RBI said the know your customer norms (KYC) need to be adhered to in giving lockers. The assessment of a customer in allotting lockers should be done on the basis of criteria prescribed for medium risk individuals or the risk assigned to the customer's existing bank account, if that is higher.

If a high-risk customer has not operated the locker for more than a year and a medium-risk customer has not done so for more than three years, banks will advise them to either operate or surrender the lockers even if rents are paid regularly. The apex bank has proposed opening the lockers if customers do not heed the bank's advice. If rents are not paid, then RBI has suggested banks to frame guidelines to break open lockers.

Death claim

In the event of death of locker holder, the nominee needs only to furnish a proof of identity and a death certificate.

For joint lockers, in the event of death, the survivor will be allowed access to the locker, if there is a contract of hire with a survivorship clause such as ‘either or survivor’, ‘any one or survivor’ etc.

In the event of death and if there are no nominees, legal heirs or the executor of a will access the locker. Only the death certificate and proof of identity verification need to be submitted.

In case of death of a sole depositor of safe custody article (where there is nomination), such article may be returned to the nominee by obtaining death certificate and identification of nominee and no other document.

In case of death of an individual depositor of safe custody article (where there is no nomination), such article may be returned to the legal representative of the deceased (or the executor/administrator if appointed). In such cases, death certificate and proof of legal representation should be obtained.