New
Delhi: Two leading foreign banks in India have been
accused by the investigative arm of the Monopolies and
Restrictive Trade Practices Commission of making false
promises to their credit card customers in violation of
The Reserve Bank of India''s guidelines.
In
its preliminary report, the director general of investigation
and registration (DGIR) said that Citibank and HSBC had
violated the Reserve Bank''s rules on timely despatch of
bills with a view to causing a loss to its customers.
According
to the DGIR both banks were allegedly delaying delivery
of bills and realisation of cheques toward payment in
order to charge increased interest rate, late fee and
fines, etc.
The
DGIR also said that the two banks have been conducting
credit card business in the country through either independent
direct sales agents (DSAs) or those who were working on
commissions.
The
report says these DSAs solicited business from the general
public by conveying the impression that they were the
direct agents of the bank, without disclosing their independent
status leading customers and prospects to believe that
the promises made by these agents were as good as those
made by an officer of the bank.
It
also said that the DSAs of these banks even used government
or semi-government offices and premises for soliciting
business and their sales promotion. According to the RBI''s
licenses terms, these banks are supposed to carry out
their banking activities only from their own branches
and offices.
also see : Other
reports on Citibank
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