Safe Deposit Locker/Safe Custody Article Facility provided by the banks - Revised Instructions

Have you exercised your right to nominate for you Bank SB , Deposit and Locker Accounts ? If not do it immediately. If your accounts have a nominee it is easier for your nominee to claim and receive the funds remaining in your account or the articles kept in your locker.With minimum paper work banks will settle the claims. Without nominee , settlement of claim to the legal heirs may require submission of more documents like succession certificate, letter of administration or probate, etc. It will be prudent to add nominee to all your accounts with the bank to avoid complication in future .
Excerpts:

Customers who are not having any other banking relationship with the bank may be given the facilities of safe deposit locker / safe custody article after complying with the CDD criteria under the Master Direction-Know Your Customer (KYC) Directions, 2016

Banks shall maintain a branch wise list of vacant lockers as well as a wait-list in Core Banking System (CBS) or any other computerized system

A copy of the locker agreement in duplicate signed by both the parties shall be furnished to the locker-hirer to know his/her rights and responsibilities.

To ensure prompt payment of locker rent, banks are allowed to obtain a Term Deposit, at the time of allotment, which would cover three years' rent and the charges for breaking open the locker in case of such eventuality. Banks, however, shall not insist on such Term Deposits from the existing locker holders or those who have satisfactory operative account

The area housing the lockers should remain adequately guarded at all times. The banks shall install Access Control System, if required as per their risk assessment, which would restrict any unauthorized entry and create digital record of access to locker room with time log. As per their internal security policy, banks may cover the entry and exit of the strong room and the common areas of operation under CCTV camera and preserve its recording for a period of not less than 180 days.

Banks offering electronically accessed lockers should be fully aware of the safety and security features of such lockers satisfying appropriate industry standards. In case the lockers are being operated through an electronic system, the bank shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the system is protected against hacking or any breach of security

Banks shall ensure that identification Code of the bank / branch is embossed on all the locker keys with a view to facilitating identification of lockers / locker ownership by law enforcement agencies in case of need

The locker hirer and/or the persons duly authorized by him/ her only shall be permitted to operate the locker after proper verification of their identity and recording of the authorization by the officials concerned of the bank

There shall be a system of inter change of locks whenever the locker is surrendered by the hirer. The keys of vacant lockers shall be kept in sealed envelopes. The duplicate master keys shall be deposited with another branch of the bank. There shall be proper record of joint custody of master keys. Banks shall conduct surprise periodic verification of surrendered/vacant lockers and their keys by an officer of the bank who is not connected with their custody and proper record shall be maintained as a proof of such verification.

The banks shall offer nomination facility in case of safe deposit lockers and safe custody of articles, in accordance with the provisions of section 45-ZC to 45-ZF of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 1985/Co-operative Banks (Nomination) Rules, 1985. In case the nominee is a minor, the same procedure as prescribed for the bank accounts shall be followed by the banks. A passport size photo of the nominee attested by the customer may be obtained from the customers, at his/her option and preserved in the records.

Banks shall have a Board approved policy for nomination and release of contents of safety lockers / safe custody article to the nominee and protection against notice of claims of other persons

In order to ensure that the articles left in safe custody and contents of lockers are returned to the genuine nominee, as also to verify the proof of death, banks shall devise their own claim formats,

If the sole locker hirer nominates an individual to receive the contents in the locker, in case of his death, after verification of the death certificate and satisfying the identity and genuineness of such individual approached, the banks shall give access of the locker to such nominee with liberty to remove the contents of the locker, after an inventory was taken in the prescribed manner.
In case the locker was hired jointly with the instructions to operate it under joint signatures, and the locker hirer(s) nominates any other individual(s), in the event of death of any of the locker hirers, the bank shall give access of the locker and the liberty to remove the contents jointly to the survivor(s) and the nominee(s) after an inventory was taken in the prescribed manner.
In case the locker was hired jointly with survivorship clause and the hirers instructed that the access of the locker should be given to "either or survivor", "anyone or survivor" or "former or survivor" or according to any other survivorship clause permissible under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the banks shall follow the mandate in the event of death of one or more of the joint locker-hirers.
Banks shall, however, ensure the following before giving access to the contents to nominee / survivor:

Exercise due care and caution in establishing the identity of the survivor(s) / nominee(s) and the fact of death of the locker hirer by obtaining appropriate documentary evidence;

Make diligent effort to find out whether there is any order or direction from Courts/Forums restraining it from giving access to the locker of the deceased; and

make it clear to the survivor(s) / nominee(s) that access to articles in the locker / safe custody articles is given to them only as a trustee of the legal heirs of the deceased locker hirer i.e., such access given to them shall not affect the right or claim which any person may have against the survivor(s) / nominee(s) to whom the access is given.

Similar procedure shall be followed for return of articles placed in the safe custody of the bank.

The bank shall obtain a separate statement from the nominee (claimant) or the person competent to receive articles on behalf of the minor, as the case may be, that all the contents in the locker or in the safe custody of the bank, as the case may be, are received and the locker is empty and they have no objection to allotment of the locker to any other customer as per norms.

While giving access to the survivor(s) / nominee(s) of the deceased locker hirer / depositor of the safe custody articles, banks may avoid insisting on the production of succession certificate, letter of administration or probate, etc., or obtain any bond of indemnity or surety from the survivor(s)/nominee(s), unless there is any discrepancy in nomination.

In case of attachment and recovery of the contents in a locker of a customer or the articles left by a customer for safe custody of the bank by any Authority acting either under the orders of a Court or any other competent authority vested with the power to pass such orders, the banks shall co-operate in execution and implementation of the orders.

Banks shall have the discretion to break open any locker following due procedure if the rent has not been paid by the customer for three years in a row. The bank shall ensure to notify the existing locker-hirer prior to any changes in the allotment and give him/her reasonable opportunity to withdraw the articles deposited by him/her.

Before breaking open the locker, the bank shall give due notice to the locker-hirer through a letter and through email and SMS alert to the registered email id and mobile phone number.
The locker shall be broken open in the presence of an officer of the bank and two independent witnesses. In case of electronically operated lockers (including Smart Vaults),

If the locker remains inoperative for a period of seven years and the locker-hirer cannot be located, even if rent is being paid regularly, the bank shall be at liberty to transfer the contents of the locker to their nominees/legal heir or dispose of the articles in a transparent manner, as the case may be.

The bank shall not be liable for any damage and/or loss of contents of locker arising from natural calamities or Acts of God like earthquake, floods, lightning and thunderstorm or any act that is attributable to the sole fault or negligence of the customer. Banks shall, however, exercise appropriate care to their locker systems to protect their premises from such catastrophes.

It is the responsibility of banks to take all steps for the safety and security of the premises in which the safe deposit vaults are housed. It has the responsibility to ensure that incidents like fire, theft/ burglary/ robbery, dacoity, building collapse do not occur in the bank’s premises due to its own shortcomings, negligence and by any act of omission/commission. As banks cannot claim that they bear no liability towards their customers for loss of contents of the locker, in instances where loss of contents of locker are due to incidents mentioned above or attributable to fraud committed by its employee(s), the banks’ liability shall be for an amount equivalent to one hundred times the prevailing annual rent of the safe deposit locker.

Read RBI Circular.

IDBI Bank- settlement of Deceased claims of Locker / Safe Custody Article