Customers’ Rights Policy

 

6. Introduction:

 

Rights of the customer applies to all products and services offered by Bank or its agents, whether provided across the counter, over phone, by post, through interactive electronic devices, on internet or by any other method.

 

6.1. Right to Fair Treatment:

 

Both the customer and Bank have a right to be treated with courtesy. The Bank will –

(a) Promote good and fair banking practices by setting minimum standards in all dealings with the customers.

(b) Promote a fair and equitable relationship between the bank and the customer.

(c) Train bank staff attending to the customers, adequately and appropriately.

(d) Ensure that staff members attend to customers and their business promptly and courteously.

(e) Treat all customers fairly and not discriminate against any customer on grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste, literacy, economic status, physical ability, etc. Bank may, however, have special schemes or products which are specifically designed for members of a target market group or may use defensible, commercially acceptable economic rationale for customer differentiation. Bank may also have schemes or products as part of an affirmative action such as for women or backward classes. Such schemes / products will not tantamount to unfair discrimination. The rationale for such special schemes or terms will be explained by bank wherever required.

(f) Ensure that the above principle is applied while offering all products and services.

(g) Ensure that the products and services offered are in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

(h) While it shall be the endeavor of the bank to provide its customers with hassle free and fair treatment, the bank would expect its customers to behave courteously and honestly in their dealings with the bank.

(i) It shall also be the bank’s endeavor to encourage its customers to approach the bank’s Internal Grievance Redressal machinery and approach alternate fora after exhausting all their remedies under bank’s internal grievance mechanism.

 

6.2. Right to Transparency, Fair and Honest Dealing:

 

The Bank will make every effort to ensure that the contracts or agreements it frames are transparent, easily understood by and well communicated to the common person.

In pursuance of the above Right, the Bank will –

(a) Ensure complete transparency so that the customer can have a better understanding of what he or she can reasonably / fairly expect from the bank.

(b) Ensure that the bank’s dealings with the customer rest on ethical principles of equity, integrity and transparency.

(c) Provide customers with clear information about its products and services, terms and conditions, and the interest rates / service charges in simple and easily understandable language, and with sufficient information so that the customer could be reasonably expected to make an appropriate and informed choice of product.

(d) Ensure that all terms and conditions are fair and set out the respective rights, liabilities and obligations clearly and as far as possible in plain and simple language.

(e) Make known the key risks associated with the product as well as any features that may disadvantage to the customer. Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) associated with the product or service will be clearly brought to the notice of the customer while offering the product. In general, it will be ensured that such terms will not inhibit a customer’s future choice.

(f) Provide information on interest rates, fees and charges through Notice Board in the branches/ website/ help-lines/ help–desk etc.

(g) Display the tariff Schedule on Bank’s website and a copy of it will be made available at every branch for customer’s perusal. Also Bank will display in its branches a notice about the availability of the Tariff Schedule at the branch.

(h) Give details, in Bank’s Tariff Schedule, of all charges, if any, applicable to the products and services chosen by customer.

(i) Inform the customer of any change in the terms and conditions through a letter or Statement of Account, SMS or email as agreed by the customer at least one month prior to the revised terms and conditions becoming effective.

(j) Ensure that such changes are made only with prospective effect after giving notice of one month. If the bank has made any change without giving such notice which is favorable to the customer, it will notify the change within 30 days of such change. If the change is adverse to the customer, prior notice of minimum 30 days will be provided and the customer may be provided options, to close the account or switch to any other eligible account without having to pay the revised charge or interest within 60 days of such notice.

(k) Provide information about the penalties to be levied in case of non-observance / breach of any of the terms and conditions governing the product / services chosen by the customer.

(l) Display on public domain the Banks’ Policies on Deposits, Cheque Collection, Grievance Redressal, Compensation and Collection of Dues and Security Repossession.

(m) Make every effort to ensure that staff dealing in a particular product is properly trained to provide relevant information to customers fully, correctly and honestly.

(n) Ensure to communicate to the applicant within a reasonable time period as decided by the bank about the acceptance / non-acceptance of applications submitted for availing a product / service and convey in writing the reasons for not accepting / declining the application. Such period will be notified in the bank’s website and also in the application of the particular product or service.

(o) Communicate unambiguously, the information about Discontinuation of particular products, Relocation of their offices, Changes in working hours, Change in telephone numbers, Closure of any office or branch with advance notice of at least 30 days. Also affirms that disclosure of information is an on-going process through the life-cycle of the product / relationship and shall be diligently followed by them. Ensure to use all possible channels of communication, including web-site, to ensure that information on all changes are made known to the customer upfront.

(p) Advise the customer at the time of selling the product of the rights and obligations embedded in law and/or banking regulation including the need to report any critical incidents that the customer suspect, discover or encounter.

(q) The bank’s staff members shall, when approached by the customer for availing a product or service, provide all relevant information related to the product / service and also provide direction to informational resources on similar products available in the market with a view to enable the customer to make an informed decision.

(r) Not terminate a customer relationship without giving reasonable or contractual prior notice to the customer.

(s) Assist the customer in all available ways for managing his/her account, financial relationship by providing regular inputs in the bank’s realms such as account statements/passbooks, alerts, timely information about the product’s performance, term deposits maturity etc.

(t) Ensure that all marketing and promotional material is clear and not misleading.

(u) Not threaten the customer with physical harm, exert influence or engage in behavior that would reasonably be construed as unwarranted harassment. Ensure adherence only to the normal appropriate business practices.

(v) Ensure that the fees and charges on products/services and its structure are not unreasonable to the customer.

 

6.3. Right to Suitability:

 

The products offered should be appropriate to the needs of the customer and based on an assessment of the customer’s financial circumstances and understanding.

In pursuance of the above Right, the Bank will –

(a) Ensure that it has a Board approved policy for assessing suitability of products for customers prior to sale.

(b) Endeavour to make sure that the product or service sold or offered is appropriate to the customer’s needs and not inappropriate to the customer’s financial standing and understanding based on the assessment made by it. Such assessment will be appropriately documented in the bank’s records.

(c) Sell third party products only if it is authorized to do so, after putting in place a Board approved policy for marketing and distributing third party financial products.

(d) Not compel a customer to subscribe to any third party products as a quid-pro-quo for any service availed from the bank.

(e) Ensure that the products being sold or service being offered, including third party products are in accordance with extant rules and regulations.

 

(f) Inform the customer about his responsibility to promptly and honestly provide all relevant and reasonable information that is sought by bank to enable them to determine the suitability of the product to the customer.

 

6.4. Right to Privacy:

 

Customers’ personal information will be kept confidential unless they have offered specific consent to the Bank or such information is required to be provided under the law or it is provided for a mandated business purpose.

In pursuance of the above Right, the Bank will –

(a) Treat customer's personal information as private and confidential (even when the customer is no longer banking with us), and, as a general rule, not disclose such information to any other individual/ institutions including its subsidiaries / associates, tie-up institutions etc. for any purpose unless :

• The customer has authorized such disclosure explicitly in writing
• Disclosure is compelled by law / regulation
• Bank has a duty to the public to disclose i.e. in public interest
• Bank has to protect its interests through disclosure
• It is for a regulatory mandated business purpose such as disclosure of default to credit information companies or debt collection agencies.

(b) Ensure such likely mandated disclosures be communicated immediately to the customer in writing.

(c) Not use or share customer’s personal information for marketing purpose, unless the customer has specifically authorized it.

(d) Adhere to Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010 (National Customer Preference Registry) issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, while communicating with customers.

(e) PSB UnIC application sending installed apps details to https://us-sdk-api-gateway.locsec.net/ to check vulnerable apps. The “Apps List” includes every app SHA256, and metadata (package name, developer info). The “App List” is collected only to find the reputation server of the app. Besides this, Check Point Mobile SDK doesn’t send user personal data or any other information to the server.

(f) The Bank is limiting the collection and use of customer information to the minimum required to deliver superior service to our customers, if user gives us access to their contacts, a referral link may be sent to invite people to use the PSB mobile application, contact information for mobile recharge and send money using UPI ID from contact list. However, Bank does not store these contacts.

(g) Punjab & Sind Bank is committed to protecting customers' privacy and ensuring the security of their personal information. This section outlines how the bank collect, use, and safeguard customer's data, including information from their contact list, camera, file & media, location, SMS & telephone and notifications w.r.t. to Bank's digital banking solution namely PSB UnIC & PSB UnIC Biz.

• Contact List:PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz requires access to customer's contact list to facilitate money transfers, enable them to send money to their contacts, perform recharge, bill pay and provide a seamless experience. Customers can also invite their contacts to use PSB UnIC app.
• Camera:PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz requires access to their device's camera in order to capture their profile picture and scan QR code to initiate fund transfers.
• File and Media:PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz requires permission to access customer's device's storage for the purpose of downloading the account statements, transaction receipts, and other files downloaded. Bank also require access to customer device's photos/gallery to set customer's profile picture and upload QR images for scan & pay payments. Bank will not access customer's photos without their consent and will not use them for any purpose other than what customer's explicitly allow within the app.
• Location:Location data will be collected to provide customer's with location-based services such as finding nearby ATMs or branches. PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz require customer's precise location in order to identify the location from where they are initiating any transaction.
• Notifications:PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz will send notifications to customer's device for transaction updates, security alerts, or account information.
• SMS & Telephone:PSB UnIC/PSB UnIC Biz requires this permission to send a background message from customer's device in order to identify the mobile and device being used to access the mobile app.