RBI tells banks to allot ID code to customers

The RBI today revised the Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and reiterated that banks should allot Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC) to all their customers.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday revised the Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and reiterated that banks should allot Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC) to all their customers, which will help banks to track transactions of customers. The banking sector regulator had earlier asked banks to issue UCIC in June 2012.

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"Banks should allot UCIC to all their customers while entering into any new relationships for individual customers," said RBI in a master circular released on Monday. "The UCIC will help banks to identify customers, track the facilities availed, monitor financial transactions in a holistic manner and enable banks to have a better approach to risk profiling of customers," it said.

Earlier the Reserve Bank had asked banks to issue code by the end of May 2013 but later extended the deadline to complete the process of allotting the customer codes to March 2014.

RBI also asked banks to verify residential address of customers in case of any discrepancy.

"If the address indicated on the document submitted for identity proof differs from the current address mentioned in the account opening form, a separate proof of address should be obtained," said RBI.

"For this purpose, apart from the indicative listed documents, a rent agreement indicating the address of the customer duly registered with state government or registration authority may also be accepted as a proof of address," it said.