Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will undertake annual assessment of customer service and grievances redressal mechanisms of banks as part of its supervisory mechanism.

The RBI recently decided to put in place a comprehensive framework for grievances redressal.

"The Reserve Bank will undertake, as a part of its supervisory mechanism, annual assessments of customer service and grievance redressal in banks based on the data and information available through the Complaint Management System, and other sources and interactions," said an RBI notification.

Banks identified as having persisting issues in grievances redressal will be subjected to an intensive review of their mechanisms to better identify the underlying systemic issues and initiate corrective measures.

The intensive review will include -- adequacy of the customer service and customer grievances redressal-related policies, functioning of the Customer Service Committee of the Board, level of involvement of the top management in customer service and customer grievances-related issues and effectiveness of the grievances redressal mechanism of banks.

The RBI said that based on the review, a remedial action plan will be formulated and formally communicated to the banks for implementation within a specific time frame.

"In case no improvement is observed in the grievance redressal mechanism within the prescribed timelines despite the measures undertaken, the bank(s) will be subjected to corrective actions through appropriate regulatory and supervisory measures," it said.