FRDI Bill depositor friendly, won't take away your money in bank: Finance Ministry

08 Dec 2017 Evaluate

Allaying fears over 'bail-in' provisions that are being seen as making bank deposits unsafe, the Finance Ministry has said that the provisions of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (FRDI Bill), under consideration of a joint parliamentary committee, are aimed at protecting the interests of depositors and provides more protection to them compared to existing provisions. This statement comes in the wake of certain misgivings that appeared in the media about provisions. Clarifying further it said that the provisions in the FRDI Bill do not modify current protections for depositors adversely at all and added that it provide additional protections in a more transparent manner.

Presently, each person who makes a deposit in the bank can only be protected up to a limit of Rs 1 lakh by the guarantee of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). For remaining deposits, that is, beyond Rs 1 lakh of deposits in a bank, depositors do not have any deposit protection guarantee and are treated at par with claims of unsecured creditors as of now. Besides providing similar protection / guarantee of Rs 1 lakh to depositors as it exists today, the Centre said, the rights of uninsured depositors are being placed at an elevated status in the FRDI Bill compared to the existing legal arrangements over the unsecured creditors and even government dues.

According to the Ministry, the FRDI Bill is far more depositor friendly than many other jurisdictions, which provide for statutory bail-in, where consent of creditors or depositors is not required for bail-in. It also said the FRDI Bill does not propose in any way to limit the scope of powers for the government to extend financing and resolution support to banks, including public sector banks (PSBs) and added that the government's implicit guarantee for PSBs remains unaffected. It stated that the FRDI Bill will strengthen the system by adding a comprehensive resolution regime which will help ensure that, in the rare event of failure of a financial service provider, there is a system of quick, orderly and efficient resolution in favour of depositors.

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