The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week introduced new rules to prevent the mis-selling of financial products – such as insurance, mutual funds or loans – by banks and other lenders. The new rules will come into effect from January 1, 2027
Under the new norms, banks cannot design incentive structures that encourage employees or agents to aggressively sell products. The revised rules also applies to social media influencers and digital marketing partners hired by banks and financial institutions.
More importantly, the new rules allow customers to file complaints with their bank if they believe a financial product or service was mis-sold to them. Here’s a look at how you can get your money back if you have been sold a misleading product
What is mis-selling? What does the rules say?
As per the definition, mis-selling includes practices such as offering products that are unsuitable for the customer, providing misleading or inaccurate information, selling products without obtaining explicit consent from the customer, and mandatorily bundling products together.
Customers can get a refund for any mis-selling – Here’s how
RBI clearly said in its release, “In cases where mis-selling of a financial product/service is established, the bank shall refund the entire amount … and also intimate the customer about cancellation of the sale.”
