Kolkata: 

So far you could nominate only one person in your bank account. But soon you will be able to nominate up to four persons. The legislative changes required for it has gone past 1the approval stage of both the upper and lower house of Parliament.

The passage of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will allow depositors successive or simultaneous nomination facility, while locker holders can have only successive nominations, reports said.

New nomination for lockers

Obviously the nomination facility will kick in once the account holder has expired. The nominee will act as a custodian to make transfer of funds smooth to the legal heirs. The process becomes simpler if the nominee is the legal heir (and especially the only one). While the multiple nomination facility will be a benefit by itself, it is also expected to address a macro problem which the economic policymakers are grappling with unsuccessfully for many years now.

At the end of FY24, the amount of unclaimed deposits in banks reached Rs 78,213 crore — a big 26% jump from the FY23 figure of Rs 62,225 crore. One of the reasons of unclaimed deposits is that often nominees mentioned in bank records are hard to find, while some have moved abroad or to other cities and don’t have the time or inclination to visit a bank to claim the funds. By allowing multiple nominees, the chance of this money remaining with the banks even after the death of the account holder could go down swiftly.

Allowing multiple nominees in an account and locker will offer depositors more flexibility and a fuss-free asset transfer process, experts have told the media. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said account holders will shortly have the flexibility to choose between “successive” and “simultaneous” nomination. But for those who take bank lockers on rent, successive nominations will only be permitted so that there are no disputes.

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