The Reserve Bank of India has revised KYC norms for banks and financial entities to ensure that no account is opened in anonymous or fictitious name. The central bank said regulated entities have to ensure that no account is opened where the entity is unable to apply appropriate customer due diligence measures, either due to non-cooperation of the customer or non-reliability of the documents/information furnished by the customer. RBI has also told banks and NBFCs not to allow any transaction or account relationship without following the customer due diligence procedure and the mandatory information to be sought for KYC purpose while opening an account and during the periodic updation. RBI also said circumstances in which a customer is permitted to act on behalf of another person/entity, is clearly spelt out. Suitable system is put in place to ensure that the identity of the customer, it added. Meanwhile, RBI has also made linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts mandatory as part of the updated KYC guidelines. However, this will be subject to the final decision of the Supreme Court on making of Aadhaar mandatory. Till now, an officially valid document for address proof together with PAN and a recent passport size photograph were the key KYC documents. In the amended customer due diligence procedure, RBI says the Aadhaar number, the PAN or Form No. 60 need to be obtained from an individual who is eligible for applying for the biometric ID.
