Now, a/c number sole criterion for e-fund transfers

For speedier transfer of funds electronically, banks will henceforth demand only the customer’s account number for such transactions, ignoring other details like names.

The new mechanism, intended to reduce the possibility of any errors, comes into effect from tomorrow. This is in line with a Reserve Bank of India directive under which customers will need to mention account numbers twice for every fund transfer request.

The new system will be applicable for all electronic payment gateways, such as RTGS, Neft, NECS and ECS, besides fund transfers initiated by customers at bank branches or over the internet.

At present, electronic payment mechanism involved manual intervention on account of the tedious process of matching various details like customers’ names and branch details.

“In the Indian context, given the many different ways in which beneficiary names can be written, it becomes challenging to perfectly match the name field in the electronic transfer instructions with that on record in the books of the destination bank,” RBI said.