Accept self-attested docs: RBI to banks

Mumbai:  The Reserve Bank relaxed ‘know your customer’ norms by allowing self-certification of documents needed for opening bank accounts.  The central bank, in its monetary policy statement,  asked banks to “allow self-certification; accept a certified copy of the document by mail/post” for account opening.  Banks have also been asked not to seek fresh documents if an existing KYC compliant customer of a bank desires to open another account in the bank.

For periodic updating of KYC, the RBI told the banks not “insist on physical presence of the customer” and also not seek fresh proof of identity and address in case of no change in status for ‘low risk’ customers.