Bank account number is sole criteria for e-fund transfers now

Looking to speed up the transfer of funds electronically, banks will henceforth only take into account customers' account numbers for such transactions, ignoring other details like names. The new mechanism is intended to reduce the possibility of any errors and comes into effect from today (January 1, 2011). This is in line with a Reserve Bank directive under which customers would need to mention their account numbers twice for every electronic fund transfer request made through the Internet, as well as at bank branches. The central bank had directed the banks to put in place the appropriate systems and procedures to comply with the directive from the New Year. As per the RBI guidelines, the banks would need to process all inward electronic transactions solely on the basis of the account number of the customer. The new system would 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. Although electronic payment methods are aimed at achieving expeditious fund transfers through a computerised system, the earlier practice involved manual intervention too, on account of the tedious process of matching various details such as customers' names and branch details.