RBI Internal Ombudsman All Details – Appointment, Tenure, Duties

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released new guidelines for internal ombudsman appointed in bank. All important details such as appointment, tenure, duties, roles and responsibilities are given below.

Appointment of Internal Ombudsman

• The IO shall either be a retired or serving officer in the rank equivalent to a General Manager in the Reserve Bank under the purview of the Internal Ombudsman framework or a Financial Sector Regulatory Body, having the necessary skills and experience of a minimum of seven years of working in areas such as banking, non-banking finance, regulation, supervision, payment and settlement systems, credit information, or consumer protection. If the person is a serving officer, he or she is required to relinquish the same before assuming charge as IO.
• The IO shall not have been previously employed, nor be presently employed, by the bank or any holding, associate, or subsidiary company of the bank.
• The IO shall not be over 70 years of age before the completion of the tenure.
• A person may work as the IO in more than one RE simultaneously at the discretion of the REs concerned, subject to the approval of the Board or the Customer Service Committee or Consumer Protection Committee of the Board of the appointing RE.
• The bank shall, within five working days of appointment of the IO or Dy. IO, furnish the details of the official so appointed to the Consumer Education and Protection Department, Central Office, Reserve Bank of India (email:iocepd@rbi.org.in).

Appointment of Deputy Internal Ombudsman

• The Dy. IO shall either be a retired or serving officer in the rank equivalent to a Deputy General Manager in the RE under the purview of the Internal Ombudsman framework or a Financial Sector Regulatory Body, having the necessary skills and experience of a minimum of five years of working in areas such as banking, non-banking finance, regulation, supervision, payment and settlement systems, credit information, or consumer protection. If the person is a serving officer, he or she is required to relinquish the same before assuming charge as Dy. IO.
• The Dy. IO shall not have been previously employed, nor be presently employed, by the bank or any holding, associate, or subsidiary company of the bank.
• The Dy. IO shall not be over 70 years of age before the completion of the tenure.
• The Dy. IO shall not be employed in more than one RE simultaneously.

Number of Internal Ombudsman / Deputy Internal Ombudsman

• Every bank shall appoint at least one IO.
• The Customer Service Committee of the Board of the bank shall determine, at least once in a year, the number of IO and Dy. IO to be appointed, having due regard to the volume and complexity of the complaints received, and ensuring that the IO and Dy. IO get sufficient time to apply their mind to the principles of fairness, equity, and natural justice while reviewing the resolution provided by the bank.
• While appointing additional IO or Dy. IO, the bank shall consider the need for diversity of experience of the incumbents to deal with different types of cases. In such cases, the bank may clearly define the jurisdiction of each IO or Dy. IO.

Tenure of Internal Ombudsman / Deputy Internal Ombudsman

• The appointment of the IO and Dy. IO in the bank shall be contractual.
• The bank shall ensure that the post of the IO does not remain vacant at any point of time. During the temporary absence of the IO, the Dy. IO may function as the IO.
• In a rare case where both IOs and Dy. IOs are on leave or absent, the bank may designate its serving official equivalent to the General Manager rank as the IO for a period not exceeding one month, with the approval of the Customer Service Committee of the Board. Such official shall not have any reporting relationship with the business verticals of the bank during the period in which he or she is designated as the IO.
• The tenure of the IO and Dy. IO in the bank shall be a fixed term of not less than three years. However, the total tenure, including extension or reappointment if any, of the IO and Dy. IO in the bank shall not exceed five years.
• To fill a vacancy, the bank shall undertake the process of fresh appointment at least three months in advance of the expiry of the tenure of the incumbent IO and ensure that there is a reasonable overlap between the time of demitting office of the outgoing IO and the incoming IO.
• The IO and Dy. IO shall not be removed before the completion of the contracted term without the approval of the Customer Service Committee of the Board. In case a vacancy arises due to reasons beyond the control of the bank, such as resignation, incapacitation, illness, or death, the bank shall inform the Reserve Bank of India within ten working days from the date of such vacancy and shall appoint a new IO or Dy. IO as per the specified eligibility criteria within three months from the date of vacancy.
• The Customer Service Committee of the Board of the bank shall determine the structure of emoluments, facilities, and benefits accorded to the IO and Dy. IO, which should be appropriate keeping in view the stature and position of the IO and Dy. IO at the apex of the grievance redress mechanism of the bank, as well as the need to attract experienced persons with the requisite expertise. These emoluments, facilities, and benefits, once determined, shall not be changed adversely during the tenure of the IO and Dy. IO.

Role and Responsibilities of Internal Ombudsman / Deputy Internal Ombudsman

• The office of the IO shall not handle complaints received directly from complainants or members of the public. It shall deal only with complaints that have already been examined by the bank but have been partially resolved or wholly rejected by the bank.
• The IO and Dy. IO shall not represent the bank in legal cases before any court, forum, or authority.
• While the IO may decide any or all complaints, the powers of the Dy. IO to decide complaints may be defined under a policy approved by the Customer Service Committee of the Board.
• The IO and Dy. IO shall recommend suitable compensation to the complainant, as per the compensation prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India in its prevailing guidelines, if any, and as per the compensation policy of the bank where there is no prescription from the Reserve Bank of India.
• The IO may recommend compensation in accordance with the Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, as amended from time to time, for consequential loss and loss of time, expenses incurred, and harassment or mental agony suffered by the complainant, over and above the compensation recommended earlier.
• The office of the IO shall, on a quarterly basis, analyse the pattern of all complaints received against the bank, such as product-wise, category-wise, consumer group-wise, and geographical location-wise, and provide inputs to the bank for policy intervention where required.
• The IO shall suggest measures to address the root causes of complaints of similar or repetitive nature and those requiring policy-level changes in the bank.
• The IO and Dy. IO shall have read-only access to the Reserve Bank’s Complaint Management System to keep abreast of decisions of the RBI Ombudsman or Appellate Authority. The bank shall seek such access for the IO and Dy. IO from the Consumer Education and Protection Department of the Reserve Bank.
• The Dy. IO shall functionally report to the IO.

Board Oversight

• The IO shall be designated as a permanent invitee to the meetings of the Customer Service Committee of the Board. In banks having multiple IOs, the Customer Service Committee of the Board shall take a view on having representation of more than one IO or having a system of rotation.
• The IO shall furnish periodic reports, including analysis of complaints, on his or her activities to the Customer Service Committee of the Board, preferably on a quarterly basis but not less than at half-yearly intervals.
• The decision of the IO or Dy. IO can be overruled only with the approval of the Competent Authority as defined under the relevant clause of these Directions.
• All cases where the decision of the IO or Dy. IO has been overruled by the Competent Authority shall be placed before the Customer Service Committee of the Board of the bank for review.
• Information on complaints resolved by the RBI Ombudsman in favour of the complainant, either partially or fully, shall also be placed before the Customer Service Committee of the Board on a quarterly basis. This information shall be accompanied by an analysis of at least the top five categories of complaints along with remedial measures to avoid complaints of a similar nature in the future.
• The bank shall put in place a system of periodic reporting of information to the Consumer Education and Protection Department, Central Office, Reserve Bank of India, on a quarterly basis as per format. The report shall be submitted on or before the 15th day of the month following the quarter to which it relates to.

Procedure for Complaint Redress by Internal Ombudsman / Deputy Internal Ombudsman

• A fully automated Complaints Management System shall be put in place by the bank and access to the System shall be provided to the IO / Dy. IO. All complaints that are partially resolved or wholly rejected by the bank’s internal grievance redress mechanism shall be auto escalated to the office of the IO for review;
  • a) in case of complaints, for which Reserve Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, or card network guidelines prescribe a timeline for resolution, sufficiently in advance such that IO / Dy. IO gets at least 10 days for review of such complaints to enable final decision to be communicated to the complainants within the timelines prescribed by Reserve Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, or card network, as applicable;
  • b) in all other cases, within 20 days of receipt.
• The bank shall provide only three categories i.e. ‘Fully Resolved’, ‘Partially Resolved’ and ‘Wholly Rejected’ in its Complaint Management System for recording the decision on the complaints before escalation to the office of IO. The complaints outside the purview of the IO/ Dy. IO under the clauses 14(5)(c) to 14(5)(e) are exempted from such classification.
• The bank shall formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flow of complaints and information in a time bound manner.
• The bank shall ensure that a complaint is not closed by the same branch/ unit/ other touch points, whether it has been resolved (fully or partially) or rejected. A complaint which is being wholly rejected or partially resolved shall be reviewed at a fairly senior level, which the bank may decide as deemed fit, before sending it to the office of IO.
• The following types of complaints shall be outside the purview of these Directions and shall not be handled by the IO/ Dy. IO:
  • (a) Complaints related to corporate frauds, misappropriation etc., on the part of the bank that do not impact the customer in any manner;
  • (b) References in the nature of suggestions and commercial decisions of bank. However, service deficiencies in cases falling under ‘commercial decisions’ will be valid complaints for the office of the IO;
  • (c) Complaints / references relating to internal administration, human resources, or pay and emoluments of staff in the bank;
  • (d) Complaints which have been decided by or are already pending in judicial / quasi-judicial fora such as Courts, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Arbitration, etc.;
  • (e) Disputes for which remedy has been provided under Section 18 of the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005.
    The bank shall forward all rejected / partially resolved complaints under the categories (a) and (b) above to the IO / Dy. IO, who shall look for inherent deficiency in service in such cases and take a view whether any of these complaints can be exempted under (a) and / or (b) above as decided by the bank. Complaints that are outside the purview of these Directions shall be immediately returned back to the bank by the IO / Dy. IO.
• The IO / Dy. IO shall examine the complaints based on records available with the bank, including any documents submitted by the complainant and comments / clarifications furnished by the bank to the specific queries of the IO.
• The IO / Dy. IO may hold meetings with the concerned functionaries of the bank and seek any additional record / document available with the bank that are necessary for examining the complaint and reviewing the decision.
• The IO / Dy. IO may, if they find it necessary, seek written or oral submission (including additional information and documents) from the complainant, through the secretariat.
• The bank shall ensure that the final decision is communicated to the complainant within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of complaint by the bank.
• The IO / Dy. IO shall record a “reasoned decision” in each case.
• Where the IO / Dy. IO upholds the decision of the bank to reject or partially resolve the complaint, the reply to the complainant should explicitly state that the said complaint has been reviewed by the IO / Dy. IO.
• For complaints that are partially resolved or wholly rejected after examination by the IO / Dy. IO, the bank shall advise the complainant about the option of approaching the RBI Ombudsman for redress (excluding complaints not covered under the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, as amended from time to time) along with complete details of the complaint. The bank in its reply shall also mention the URL of Reserve Bank’s Complaint Management System portal for online filing of customer complaints (https://cms.rbi.org.in) and the physical / email address of the Centralised Receipt and Processing Centre.
• When a complaint is escalated to the RBI Ombudsman, the decision of the IO / Dy. IO shall be mandatorily included in the information to be submitted by the bank to the RBI Ombudsman if the complaint was already reviewed by the IO / Dy. IO. In case the complaint was not earlier reviewed by the IO / Dy. IO, the bank shall necessarily seek his / her comments and submit the same to the RBI Ombudsman.
• The bank shall use the analysis of complaints handled by IO / Dy. IO in the training programmes / conferences to raise awareness about the pattern of complaints including the root causes, remedial measures, etc., among the frontline staff, in order to evolve consistency in handling of complaints. The IO / Dy. IO may also be involved in such trainings, where necessary.
• While assessing the performance of the IO / Dy. IO, in addition to the level of pendency and work done by the IO / Dy. IO towards developing uniformity across the bank in the redress of complaints, the Customer Service Committee of the Board shall also analyse the number of cases where there is substantive difference between the decisions of the IO / Dy. IO vis-à-vis those given by the RBI Ombudsman subsequently.
• The bank shall widely disseminate the guidelines / instructions regarding these Directions among the staff while communicating the appointment of IO / Dy. IO within the organization (all branches and administrative offices).
• The bank shall not provide the contact details of the IO / Dy. IO in the public domain as the IO / Dy. IO shall not handle complaints received directly from the customers.

Download RBI Internal Ombudsman Circular 2026 PDF