Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeks special drive for unclaimed bank deposits – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday advised regulators to conduct a special drive to facilitate the settlement of unclaimed deposits and claims in the financial sector, across banking deposits, shares & dividends, mutual funds, and insurance.
Chairing the 27th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), Sitharaman also said regulators should maintain a constant vigil as ensuring “financial sector stability is a shared responsibility” of the regulators. She said regulators must take appropriate and timely action to mitigate any vulnerability and strengthen financial stability.
“It was also noted that as the Union Budget has announced unclaimed deposits, shares and dividends, which are lying in the pool, a drive should be taken by the concerned regulator, especially where nominee details are available, though nominees may not be aware of them, in a time-bound manner,” Ajay Seth, secretary, department of economic affairs, told reporters after the FSDC meeting. He added where nominee details are not available, a process has to be put in place.
In her Budget speech for 2023-24, Sitharaman had said an integrated IT portal would be set up for investors to reclaim unclaimed shares and unpaid dividends from the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority with ease.
Seth said the council also discussed how the KYC (know your customer) process has to be simplified and it has to be streamlined for the needs of Digital India, which was one of the announcements in the Budget.
He said the global financial situation is daunting but the Indian economy and especially the Indian financial sector is well-protected, well-regulated. “But of course we have to be cautious and on our toes,” said Seth, ad-ding, there is no spillover coming from the global financial system to India.

The FM said regulators should adopt a focused approach to reduce the compliance burden further and ensure a streamlined and efficient regulatory environment. The progress achieved in this regard shall be reviewed by the FM with each regulator in June 2023, according to an official statement.
She said the regulators need to be proactive and ensure cyber security preparedness of the information technology systems to reduce the risk of cyber attacks, protect sensitive financial data, and maintain overall system integrity, thus safeguarding the stability and resilience of the Indian financial ecosystem.
The meeting also discussed the action taken report on Budget announcements made since 2019. A focused approach should be adopted by the regulators to implement the announcements made in the Budget 2023-24, for which timelines were also decided, according to the statement.