Customer Service and Sales in BFSI
What the exam tests here
How a BFSI employer expects you to treat a customer and sell responsibly: grievance channels, turnaround times, the RBI Ombudsman route, needs-based selling and the ban on mis-selling.
Core rules and concepts
- Customer rights: fair treatment, transparency, privacy, suitability and grievance redressal. These appear as scenario questions.
- Internal escalation: complaint to the branch, then the nodal officer, then the Principal Nodal Officer. Only after the bank fails to resolve within 30 days can the customer approach the RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021.
- Ombudsman powers: it can award monetary relief up to ₹20 lakh plus up to ₹1 lakh towards expenses; it is not a court and does not hear the same complaint twice.
- Unauthorised electronic transactions (RBI 2017 circular): zero liability if the customer reports within 3 working days and did not share credentials; limited liability for reports within 4–7 working days; bank must reverse within 10 working days or pay ₹100 per day of delay.
- Sales discipline: identify need, match product, disclose cost and risk, complete documentation, never promise assured returns on market-linked products, disclose commission where required.
Worked example
A customer's card is used fraudulently for ₹15,000 on Monday; he reports the same week without sharing any OTP or PIN. The bank reverses after 20 working days. Reasoning: report within 3 working days gives zero liability; the reversal is 10 working days late, so the bank also owes ₹100 × 10 = ₹1,000 compensation.
Traps that cost marks
- Sending the customer to the Ombudsman before 30 days.
- Quoting the Ombudsman as a court of appeal.
- Promising fixed returns on a mutual fund or ULIP.
- Forgetting the ₹100 per day delay compensation.