In an Open House session in Mumbai, RBI’s Deputy Governor openly agreed with Moneylife Foundation’s stance that banks should not sell non-banking products like wealth management services, insurance and gold
 

At a Moneylife Foundation’s open house attended by a packed audience in Mumbai, deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Dr KC Chakrabarty said, "My view is that banks should not be selling third party products. In fact, life insurance has been in India since independence, but till 1994-95 there were no banks selling insurance or mutual fund products. I fully support that the regulator must decide what is mis-selling. It must decide that if the bank is selling insurance products, what should be the conditions required to be fulfilled.”
 

Dr Chakrabarty was responding to Moneylife Foundation’s appeal that banks should not be allowed to sell third-party or non-banking products like is insurance, gold and mutual funds because they are untrained to so do and do not take responsibility of the outcome in any manner.
 

In the foreword to the Annual Report on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2011-12, Dr K C Chakrabarty writes, “The incentive structures governing sale of different financial products and services tend to result in mis-selling. It is frightening to imagine a situation where the front line staff at banks may be more interested in pushing insurance and para-banking products instead of promoting core banking products.”
 

Dr Chakrabarty further says, “The role of the top management of banks becomes very crucial in formulating product and service delivery and pricing strategies with a clear focus on fair treatment of customers, appropriate disclosure of product features and risks and suitability of ‘sell’ for different segments of customers.”

On 18 April 2013 Moneylife Foundation had presented a memorandum to RBI Governor (http://foundation.moneylife.in/?page_id=2000) on unchecked mis-selling by bank relationship managers. It says, “Banks’ relationship managers have been particularly brazen in recommending financial products to their customers while completely disregarding their financial situation. It is commonplace to hear of a senior citizen being conned into investing in a mutual fund, unit-linked insurance plan or a hybrid-derivative product on the promise of higher returns. In many cases, private bank executives go over to their homes and persuade them to break secure fixed deposits and invest the money in Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIPs) with the false assurance that these are as safe as fixed deposits and offer a higher return and security.”

Moneylife had highlighted the case of Ms Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, a well-known singer and actor, who was taken for a ride by HSBC Bank for over five years. The modus operandi for HSBC in this case has been a combination of toxic churning of the portfolio management system (2% entry load on every purchase made by it on behalf of client), insurance products promising 24% returns, insisting her on taking a loan instead of withdrawing funds without even disclosing that the client was entitled for a smart loan.
 

Read - HSBC loots Suchitra Krishnamoorthi after big promises of 24% returns
 

A strong campaign by Moneylife through its website and its social media properties got quick justice for a 79-year old man with an ailing wife. IndusInd Bank officials had deceitfully persuaded him break his fixed deposit with the bank and invest in a wrong product. The bankers came—at 11.30 in the night—bearing a demand draft of Rs7 lakh covering the amount he was persuaded to withdraw from his fixed deposit and invest in DWS’s mutual fund scheme with a five-year lock in period.
 

Read -Mangelal Sharma gets his Rs7 lakh back—another Moneylife victory
 

RBI’s new guidelines to regulate banks’ wealth management operations and third party product distribution would be released by the end of June. It also aims to strengthen the know your customer (KYC) norms, anti-money laundering (AML) standards and rules to combat financing of terrorism.
 

RBI said that banks offering wealth management services were exposed to reputational risks on account of mis-selling of products, conflict of interest, lack of knowledge and clarity on products and frauds. Bank employees were receiving incentives from third parties for selling their products. Such practices may lead to mis-selling and distortion of the staff incentive structure.