From next month you can have up to four nominees for your bank account and locker

Starting next month, you’ll be able to have as many as four nominees for your bank accounts and lockers, compared to just one at present. On Thursday the government said some key provisions of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, including changes to nomination guidelines, would come into effect from 1 November.

The government had previously notified the public that Sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Act would come into force from next month. These include rules related to nominees for deposit accounts, articles kept in safe custody, and the contents of bank lockers.

Under the new provisions, customers may nominate up to four people, either simultaneously or successively, to simplify claims settlement for depositors and their nominees. As for bank lockers, only successive nominations are permitted. Successive nominations means the next nominee becomes operative only on the death of the previous one, ensuring continuity in settlement and clarity of succession.

The finance ministry said in a statement that depositors must also specify the percentage of entitlement for each nominee, ensuring that they total 100%. These provisions will give depositors the flexibility to appoint nominees as per their preference, while ensuring uniformity, transparency and efficiency in claim settlement across the banking system, the ministry added.

The Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 2025, detailing the procedure and prescribed forms for making, cancelling, or specifying multiple nominations, will be published in due course to operationalise these provisions uniformly across all banks, it said.

What are the goals of the amendment?

The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 amends the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the State Bank of India Act, 1955, the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980.

Sections 3, 4, 5, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Act came into force from 1 August. The legislation aims, among other things, to strengthen governance standards in the sector, ensure uniform reporting by banks to the Reserve Bank of India, enhance depositor and investor protection, improve audit quality in public sector banks, and increase convenience through improved nomination facilities. It also provides for rationalising the tenure of directors, other than the chairman and whole-time directors, in co-operative banks.

Another goal is to reduce the rising level of unclaimed bank deposits. According to the RBI, as of June 2025, public sector banks had unclaimed deposits worth ₹58,330.26 crore, while the private sector had ₹8,673.72 crore.