fixed deposit<\/a> or savings account balance as collateral.<\/p>\nRBI Guidelines on Bank Lockers (2022 Revision)<\/h2>\n
In August 2021, RBI revised locker rules effective January 2022:<\/p>\n
– Banks must execute a formal locker agreement with customers
\n– Bank liability: if locker content is lost due to the bank’s negligence, fire, or fraud, the bank is liable up to 100 times the annual locker rent
\n– Banks are NOT liable for loss due to floods, earthquakes, or other natural calamities (act of God)
\n– Banks cannot open lockers without two witnesses (or the customer’s presence for routine operations)
\n– Lockers must be insured; insurance is the customer’s responsibility for jewellery<\/p>\n
Nomination for Bank Lockers<\/h2>\n
RBI requires banks to maintain nominations for all lockers. Nominees can access the locker and remove contents after the locker holder’s death, subject to bank procedures and other legal heirs’ rights.<\/p>\n
Practical Example<\/h2>\n
Kavita rents a locker at her bank branch. The annual rent is Rs 3,000. She stores her gold jewellery and property documents in the locker. If the bank suffers a fire due to negligence and Kavita loses Rs 5 lakh worth of jewellery, the bank is liable to compensate her up to Rs 3,000 x 100 = Rs 3 lakh (100 times the annual rent).<\/p>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
– Bank lockers provide secure storage for valuables in a bank vault, accessible with dual keys
\n– Annual rent varies by locker size and bank; typically Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000
\n– RBI revised locker rules in 2022; banks are liable up to 100x annual rent for losses due to their negligence
\n– Banks are not liable for losses from natural disasters or customer negligence
\n– Always make nominations for bank lockers to enable smooth access for heirs after the holder’s death<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bank locker (safe deposit locker) is a secure, tamper-resistant metal box kept in a bank’s vault that customers can rent to store valuables like jewellery, important documents, and other precious items. The locker is accessed only by the customer using their key in combination with the bank’s master key. What Is a Bank Locker? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14457","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"web-stories-poster-portrait":false,"web-stories-publisher-logo":false,"web-stories-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team Lemonn","author_link":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/author\/ashu\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A bank locker (safe deposit locker) is a secure, tamper-resistant metal box kept in a bank’s vault that customers can rent to store valuables like jewellery, important documents, and other precious items. The locker is accessed only by the customer using their key in combination with the bank’s master key. What Is a Bank Locker?…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/14457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/14457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}