Whistleblowing is the act of drawing attention to perceived wrongdoing, misconduct, corruption, fraud, or unethical activity within a public or private organization. The policy protects them from retaliation.

BCSBI was set up to ensure that the banking system provides fair and transparent treatment to its customers. It issued codes setting minimum standards of banking practices.

A fiduciary relationship is one of trust, where one party (the banker) is duty-bound to act in the best interest of the other party (the customer), especially when managing their funds or giving advice.

The code ensures transparency in lending. It requires banks to provide comprehensive information about fees, charges, and terms, and to communicate reasons for loan rejection to avoid discrimination.

Accepting significant gifts can create a sense of obligation in the employee towards the customer, leading to biased decisions (like approving a risky loan) and potential corruption.

Banks have an implied contract of secrecy with their customers (Tournier's Case). Revealing information without consent or legal compulsion is a breach of trust and ethics.

This is a classic conflict of interest and a breach of fiduciary duty. The bank is prioritizing its own profit over the client's interest using privileged information.

Benami accounts are used to hide the true identity of the beneficial owner, enabling the hiding of black money and evasion of taxes.

This is a new ethical challenge. If AI models are trained on biased past data (e.g., discriminating against a specific pin code or gender), the AI will replicate that bias, leading to unfair lending practices.

RBI introduced this scheme to provide a channel for employees/public to report corruption/misuse of power in Private Sector and Foreign Banks, similar to the CVC mechanism for PSBs.

Selling a high-risk product to a conservative investor violates the principle of suitability. Ethics demands that the product fits the customer, not just the bank's sales target.

Long-term trust and reputation are more valuable than short-term targets. Ethical banking requires putting the customer first.

This right reinforces the ethical and legal duty of confidentiality. Banks must secure customer data against unauthorized access and misuse.

Banks have an ethical obligation to be transparent about all costs associated with a product. Hiding charges deceives the customer and violates fair dealing norms.

The policy emphasizes fairness, transparency, and accessibility. Customers must be informed of their rights and the mechanism to resolve disputes.

Exceptions to secrecy (Tournier's rules) include: 1. Compulsion of law 2. Duty to the public 3. Interest of the bank 4. Customer's consent.

Transparency prevents information asymmetry. Customers must know exactly what they are buying, including the fine print, to make informed decisions.

It mandates that banks must have a clearly laid out policy for redressal and compensate customers for financial loss due to the bank's deficiency.

RBI guidelines and the Constitution prohibit discrimination in access to banking services based on caste, creed, religion, or gender. It violates the Right to Fair Treatment.

Banks are ethically and legally responsible for the conduct of their recovery agents. Harassment violates the customer's right to dignity and privacy.

This is the "Right to Suitability." Selling inappropriate complex products violates this right (e.g., the 2008 derivatives misselling cases).

Forced bundling exploits the customer's need for one product to sell another unwanted product. This restricts customer choice and is an unfair trade practice.

Empowering customers with knowledge prevents fraud and helps them make better financial decisions, which is a duty of the bank.

This external grievance redressal mechanism ensures that customers have a recourse if the bank's internal mechanism fails.