Public sector banks will have to get their act together when it comes to implementing codes related to the bank’s commitment to customers and micro and small enterprises.

According to the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India, the overall score of public sector banks with respect to the level of compliance with the implementation of Codes was lower at 69.6 against that of all banks at 74.2 per cent.

The overall score of private sector banks (78.2) and foreign banks (88.6) was above the all banks’ average.

The overall scoring was based on five parameters — information dissemination, transparency, customer centricity, grievance redressal and customer feedback.

In all, 48 member banks of BCSBI in 3,035 branches located in 60 cities/towns, were rated on the basis of branch visits. Rural branches constituted 10 per cent of the sample size.

In addition, a total number of 6,040 customers were also interviewed to obtain their responses to certain provisions of the Code. As some of the branch banking activities are centralised, 55 centralised processing centres (CPCs) were also visited.

Only five out of the 48 banks got ‘high’ rating; 25 got ‘above average’ rating; 17 got ‘average’ and one was ‘below average.’

The rating model that was used by BCSBI was developed in consultation with credit rating agency Crisil.

BCSBI was floated by the Reserve Bank of India in 2006 to ensure that a comprehensive code of conduct for fair treatment of customers was evolved and adhered to.

BCSBI monitors the implementation of the Codes by obtaining Annual Statement of Compliance from member banks, and visits to branches to ascertain the status of ground-level implementation of Codes.

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