Bank Nominee: The complexity surrounding nominees after the death of a bank account holder is a common problem. Often, after a customer’s demise, multiple claimants appear for the funds in their bank account or assets in their locker, creating a difficult situation for bank employees. Until now, according to banking laws, a customer could only nominate one person for their account. This forced many customers to choose a single nominee against their wishes. However, this long-standing issue is finally coming to an end. The central government has announced a major change by amending the banking laws.
On Thursday, the central government announced that from now on, up to four individuals can be nominated for each bank account. This new rule will come into effect from this November 1st. The primary objective of this move is to bring transparency to matters of inheritance and to ensure uninterrupted banking and locker services for customers.
Key Details of the New Nomination Rule
According to the Ministry of Finance, the new nomination process has been made simpler and more customer-friendly. Customers can now nominate multiple individuals as heirs to their assets.
- Number of Nominees: For every savings account, fixed deposit, or locker, a maximum of four individuals can now be nominated.
- Types of Nomination: There will be two types of nomination—Joint and Sequential. Customers can choose either one according to their convenience.
- Asset Distribution: Customers can now specify the percentage of their total deposits that each nominee will inherit, considering the total as 100%. This will prevent any confusion regarding asset distribution later.
- Rules for Lockers: For safe deposit lockers, the sequential nomination rule will be particularly applicable. This means if the first nominee passes away, the next nominee in line will be entitled to operate the locker.
Why Was This Change Introduced?
According to the central government, this step will play a positive role in resolving the issue of unclaimed deposits. As per data provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as of June 2025, unclaimed deposits worth approximately ₹58,330.26 crore are lying in public sector banks. In private banks, this amount stands at ₹8,673.72 crore. The new rule will make it much easier to transfer the customer’s savings to the rightful heir after their death.
The detailed guidelines of the ‘Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025’ will be published soon. Along with this, new nomination forms and cancellation forms will also be released. It is expected that this change will make banking services smoother and reduce harassment for customers.
