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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) organised the third annual conference of Internal Ombudsmen (IO)1 on July 13, 2026, in Mumbai. The Conference brought together IOs from across a representative spectrum of regulated entities including banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), credit information companies (CICs) and other regulated entities, along with the Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers, Executive Directors in charge of customer service, Principal Nodal Officers as well as RBI Ombudsmen and senior officials of the Reserve Bank. In his keynote address, Shri Swaminathan J., Deputy Governor, exhorted the IOs to provide a meaningful, fair and effective resolution of customer complaints. The Deputy Governor also requested the IOs to identify recurring issues, undertake root cause analysis and help implement remedial measures. He added that an effective IO mechanism should reduce external escalation and urged Boards and senior management to empower the IO mechanism and use its insights to strengthen customer service and grievance redress. The Conference sessions covered recent grievance redress developments, regulatory expectations, and RBI Ombudsman insights, focusing on faster, higher-quality resolutions and systemic improvements to prevent avoidable escalations. Smt. Sonali Sen Gupta, Executive Director, interacted with the participants during an open-house session, to exchange views on further enhancing the effectiveness of the IO framework. (Brij Raj) Press Release: 2026-2027/659 1 The Internal Ombudsman serves as the final independent level of review within a regulated entity for customer complaints that have not been fully resolved, before the customer approaches the RBI Ombudsman or another external forum. |
