The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday asked banks to not take any punitive action on accounts with pending periodic KYC (Know Your Customer) update till December 31 because of the second wave of COVID-19.
The announcement was made by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during his unscheduled address to announce measures to tackle the second wave of COVID-19 cases.
"...keeping in view the COVID related restrictions in various parts of the country, Regulated Entities are being advised that for the customer accounts where periodic KYC updating is due/pending, no punitive restriction on operations of customer account(s) shall be imposed till December 31, 2021 unless warranted due to any other reason or under instructions of any regulator/enforcement agency/court of law, etc.," the governor said.
He asked such account holders to update their KYC during this period.
The announcement comes as a major relief to account holders as many banks were asking customers to visit their branch to update KYC amidst the second wave of pandemic. Periodic updation has to be carried out at least once every two years for high-risk customers, once in eight years for medium-risk customers and once in every ten years for low-risk customers.
Last week, the country's largest lender SBI had said it would update KYC based on the documents received from customers through post or registered email so that they don't have to visit the bank's branch amid the pandemic.
The central bank also allowed conversion of limited KYC accounts opened on the basis of Aadhaar e-KYC authentication in non-face-to-face mode to fully KYC-compliant accounts, and introduction of more customer-friendly options, including the use of digital channels for periodic updation of KYC details of customers.
Das also announced extension of scope of video KYC known as V-CIP (video-based customer identification process) for new categories of customers such as proprietorship firms, authorised signatories and beneficial owners of legal entities and for periodic updation of KYC.
RBI will also enable the use of KYC identifier of Centralised KYC Registry (CKYCR) for V-CIP and submission of electronic documents, including identity documents issued through DigiLocker, as identify proof.
Das announced a series of measures including an on-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore with tenors of up to three years to ramp up COVID related healthcare infrastructure and services in the country.
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