A
simple definition of 'Portability' is a thing which can be carried
or moved with ease. Portability in another sense is 'Capable of being
transferred from one employer to another. Used of an employee
benefit'.
In
India, in recent times the word 'Portability', is familiar with
Mobile subscribers and Health Insurance Policy Holders
Now,
the word 'Portability', will be extended to the Banking Customers
too. The Indian Finance Ministry is working on savings banks account
number portability. Savings Banks accounts portability, will allow a
customer to retain his account number while changing his bank.
Financial
Services Secretary D K Mittal said, “We want to do it (savings a/c
number portability). Right now there are some technical problems...we
have identified them. We will overcome them soon," .
He
was speaking after a meeting in the Ministry, which among others was
attended by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, Finance Secretary R
S Gujral and Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu. He said banks would
have to work on identification code, know your customers (KYC) norms
and core banking solution (CBS) for implementing the savings bank
account number portability.
An
idealistic Savings Account Portability Scheme should have following
features : -
- There should no change in the account number.
- The account should be transferred withing 10 working days.
- There should be no suspension in the account operations.
- The existing Debit Card and Cheque Book can be continued to be used.
- There should be no disruption in related electronic payment transactions i.e., RTGS/NEFT Credits, ECS Debits, etc.
- There should be no disruption in the credit history of the account holder.
What
is required for the Savings Account Number Portability to take off in
India?
a)
The Banks should be 100% on CBS(Core Banking Solution).
b)
There should be uniform number of digits in the account numbers
across all the participating banks.
- A third-party KYC(Know Your Customer) organization responsible for certifying the adherence to KYC norms. A beginning has been made in SEBI regulated markets towards this end.
- A robust Identification Code to recognize the savings accounts of Participating Banks. A start can be made by incorporating the MICR Code or the Pin Code in the new account numbers.d) Robust Risk Management including Fraud prevention techniques.
