ICICI Bank has
taken the extreme step of freezing the accounts of all Non-Resident
Indians who have not submitted documents required by the bank.
Scores of documents were lost by
ICICI Bank in Mumbai in
the floods that swept the city in July 2005. The documents pertained
to the savings and current accounts of demat accounts for trading
and investing, home loans and auto loans, and ICICI Direct online
trading accounts. It took ICICI Bank more than a year to identify
the customers whose papers had been lost.
Both NRIs and domestic account holders were affected, and the
bank had set January 31, 2007 as the deadline for submission of
documents for overseas Indians.
The documents of demat and loan and asset accounts from various
cities were centrally stored in Mumbai, affecting customers across
India and overseas.
In the case of deposit accounts, only Mumbai-based customers were
affected, since the bank has a regional storage facility in 25 different
locations.
Not having met the deadline set by the bank, several accounts,
as a result, have been frozen till the account holders submit
their documents. Though the bank is appreciative of the problems
customers will face, officials feel this would prompt them to
submit their documents sooner.
