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Mumbai: In a significant step, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to standardise forms to streamline the process for settling claims related to deceased depositors. The proposed set up assures settlement of the claims on deceased customers' bank accounts and lockers within 15 days and also provides compensation to nominees for any settlement delays.
The central banking authority plans to maintain standard procedures to ensure quick access to funds for the nominees upon the depositor’s death.
The RBI is keen to implement the measures to do away with the burden on nominees so that they could have hassle free access to bank accounts, lockers, and items in safe custody of the deceased customers’ accounts.
The RBI released a 'Draft Circular - Reserve Bank of India (Settlement of Claims in respect of Deceased Customers of Banks) Directions, 2025' and invited the general public to post comments and feedback on it by August 27, 2025.
"A bank shall use the standardised forms for receiving the claims and other documents...," said the draft.
The draft mentions compensation for delay in the settlement of claims. The draft read that if a nominee wishes to have access to deposit accounts or lockers after the account holder’s death, the individual would be required to submit a claim form, death certificate (deceased customer), and an officially valid document of the nominee/survivor towards verifying identity and address.
The proposed draft of the RBI states that banks will be mandated to have a ‘simplified procedure for settlement of claims in deposit accounts, where a deceased depositor had not made any nomination, keeping in view the imperative need to avoid inconvenience and undue hardship to the claimant/ legal heir’.
The draft mentions that for the settlement of such claims, a bank should consider its risk management systems and fix a threshold limit, subject to a minimum of Rs 15 lakh.
In cases of claim amount up to the threshold limit, additional documents like a bond of indemnity/ surety signed by the claimants and a letter of disclaimer/ no objection from non-claimant legal heirs, if applicable, will be required.
"In case of safe deposit locker/ articles in safe custody, the bank shall, within 15 days of receipt of all the requisite documents, process the claim and issue communication to the claimant for fixing the date for taking inventory of the locker/ articles in safe custody," said the draft.
The draft proposes banks to have standardised forms and other documents required for settlement of claims available at all branches and as well as on the bank's website.
The draft further states that banks should display the list of documents to be submitted by a claimant and the entire procedure on their website. If the RBI proposals get a green signal, the lenders would have to inform about compensation for delay in settlement of claims, if the claim is not settled within the timeframe stipulated.
"Further, in cases of delay attributable to the bank, compensation shall be paid to the claimants by the bank in the form of interest, at a rate not less than the prevailing Bank Rate plus 4 per cent per annum, on the settlement amount due for the period of delay. The reference date for reckoning the amount due and the prevailing Bank rate shall be the date of receipt of all requisite documents from the claimant," the draft said.
The RBI plans to implement the revised regulations before January 1, 2026.
