Terms and Conditions

• Authorized Signatory means the account holder(s) in case of an individual account and a designated person or persons who are allowed to operate the accounts on behalf of a firm or organization;
• Banking Day / Working day means Monday to Friday and excluding Public Holidays; banking hours means the hours your branch is open for business;
• BIC or Swift code is an alphanumeric code of 8 or 11 characters used for making international payments through the swift system;
• Calendar Day means any day of the week from Monday to Sunday;
• Cut-off Time means the time within which a transaction or a request should be made by the customer in order to be processed on the same day;
• Giro is debit or credit instruments issued for transactions made through BACS (Bankers Automated Clearing Service) which is a mode of payment through the bank clearing system within the UK;
• IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a unique identification number issued by the bank for a customer account which has the bank branch identification along with the account number;
• Sort Code is a 6 digit identifier code used for making bank to bank payments within the UK;
• Transaction Time means the time taken for processing a customer request;
• "We", "us", "our", "ourselves" and Branches means Bank of India branches within the United Kingdom. Bank of India is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and our registration number is 204629;
• "You" and "your" refers to each person who is named as the account holder. If there is more than one of you then it refers to both of you individually and jointly;
• Website means our internet presence at www.bankofindia.uk.com.

• Joint accounts will operate under the instructions received at the time of opening the account.
• We also accept the authority of any joint account holder to give instructions on behalf of all other account holders relating to the account until the instruction is cancelled by all such other joint account holders, or treated by us as cancelled or by operation of law.
• If any one of the joint account holders tells us of a dispute between account holders, we may treat this as notice of cancellation of the authority of any single joint account holder. If we do, any further transactions will need the authority of all the joint account holders.

• Any request or instruction should be given in writing signed by the Authorized Signatory. Firms, companies and other organizations should use their letterhead in giving instructions. We do not accept instructions by email or over the telephone.
• Personal customers may not issue instructions by fax or a scanned copy by email.
• Instructions by fax or a scanned copy by email can only be accepted from corporate customers if a prior bank approved arrangement is in place.
• All instructions given to us should be in English.

• comply with our legal obligations
• To reflect changes in general banking practice
• To reflect regulatory changes
• Requirement as a result of any ruling by a competent court or any other law enforcing body
• [any changes in our systems and procedures].

These changes will be communicated to you through any of the following means with at least 15 Calendar Days in advance

• Notice in the customer areas of our branches
• Personal communication such as by letter, on statements or via e-mails
• Posting on our website

• Interest payable/charged are separately set out under the different types of accounts opened with us. Interest rates would be available at our branches, on our Website and will also be available on request.
• We may vary the account interest rate for any one or more of the following reasons:

  If there is a change in relevant law, regulation, code of practice or to reflect a recommendation, requirement or decision of any applicable court, ombudsman, regulator or similar body To reflect any change in the Base Rate; LIBOR, Federal Rate, European Central Bank Rate and any other relevant interest rate.

  To reflect changes or expected changes in the costs we pay to others and/or changes in inflation, or the costs of the services or facilities we provide;

  To reflect any changes in money market interest rates or the cost to us of money we lend;

• Any interest rate changes may be effective immediately. We will inform you of any changes in interest rates of your deposits already placed with us before 5 working days of the effective change by letter, e-mail, or through our Website. Details of our current interest rates will be published on our website and on any communication we send you. If you wish to change or close your account due to notice of a reduction in rates, you must notify us within 15 day period. If you do not notify us, we consider that you have accepted the change.
• Details of interest chargeable in overdraft accounts sanctioned by us will be explained in the facility letter issued to you for such accounts.

• Cash - on the same day the cash is received at the bank branch; Inward remittances through Swift - same day value;
• Sterling cheques - six banking days from the date of receipt, provided the cheque is deposited within the cut-off time as stipulated in our Schedule of Transaction Times;
• Foreign currency cheques - would depend on the currency, country and the drawee bank;
• Giro Credits - three banking days from the date of receipt in clearing.

• Subject to the Account Specific Terms and Conditions, payments out of the account can be made using the means listed below. The execution times may depend on the different modes of payment used.
• Cash withdrawal can be made from the account subject to availability of cleared funds in the account. Withdrawals of £1,000 are free of charges. We will require 1 Banking Day prior notice for any withdrawal above £1,000. Cash handling charges as mentioned in Our Schedule of Service Charges will apply.
• Payment may be made by issuing cheques by the account holder, wherever cheque books are issued by us. Cheques should be issued in the currency of the account. We will not pay the cheque issued by you if there are insufficient funds in your account or effecting such payment exceeds the sanctioned overdraft limit. A cheque issued may not be paid due to other reasons for example if amount in words and figures differs, out of date i.e. date on the cheque is more than 6 months prior to the date of presentation, post- dated or authorized signatory's signature differs. The cheque may not be paid in case of suspicion of any fraudulent activity.
• You can request us to stop payment of a cheque. Such request should be in writing mentioning account and cheque details and signed by authorized signatory. You should take care when issuing a cheque to prevent forgery. All our cheques are marked ‘A/C Payee’ and are payable only through the payees account. In case you wish to issue an order or a bearer cheque, the account payee crossing on the cheque should be cancelled under signature of the authorized signatories.
• You can request a banker's cheque or draft in your own name or a third party by making a written request. Charges as mentioned in Our Schedule of Service Charges will apply for the same.
• Withdrawals may be allowed by way of direct Giro debits received through clearing.
• Payments can be made by electronic transfer through Swift by providing us with a written request signed by you. You should provide your account details from which the payment will be made, the beneficiary's IBAN, correct details of the recipient bank including the bank's Swift (BIC) address and the purpose of remittance. For payments within the UK, you must provide the account number and sort code of the beneficiary's bank. If there are funds in the account, payments will be made within one Banking Day of receiving your instructions.
• Any payment made by electronic transfer through Swift will reach the beneficiary's bank on the same day. However, the value date on which the beneficiary's account will be credited will depend on beneficiary's banker. In case of payments requested in currencies other than the currency of the account, the currency conversion would be done at our exchange rate that applies on the day of conversion.
• Payments made out of your account would be based on the information provided by you. In case the information provided by you is incorrect we will make reasonable efforts to recover the funds involved in the payment transaction and may charge you for any reasonable costs incurred in recovering your funds.
• We do not accept standing orders for outward payments from deposit accounts.
• Timings of payments transactions will be subject to our Schedule of Transaction Times. Any outward payment request received after the cut-off times will be considered to have been received on the next banking day.
• For security reasons, we may contact you by telephone or by email to seek confirmation of a payment request received through a messenger, by post or by fax.
• You must notify us of any loss suffered by you on any account or any unauthorized or incorrectly executed payment transactions as soon as you become aware of them but not later than 13 months from the date of debit in the account, otherwise we shall not be liable to you. However, this condition shall not apply if we fail to provide you with the information of the payment in line with Section 18.1 of these Terms and Conditions.
• For payments involving currency conversion, the rate we will apply will be the rate on offer on that day. The rate is made available to you at our branches or over the telephone. If a payment is made involving foreign currency and the payment is returned, we will reconvert the returned payment to the original currency at our prevailing exchange rate and credit your account. We shall not be liable for any loss in exchange on account of the conversion.

• defective request or insufficient or incorrect details in your instructions to us
• suspicion of fraud, money laundering, terrorism financing or funding of any other criminal activities
• order by a competent court
• order or stipulation by any other law enforcing body
• business disruption on account of natural calamity, riot, war, terrorist activity, industrial action, equipment failure or any such event which is beyond our control.

• You are required to take reasonable precautionary measures to prevent fraudulent use of your account details, cheque books, statements, identity details, ATM cards and internet banking pins and passwords. You should inform us immediately in writing of any loss or misappropriation of the items mentioned above.
• We may hold you liable in respect of the unauthorised payment(s) arising from the loss or theft of the payment instrument (excluding cheques) including where you have failed to keep the personalised security features safe.
• Where we consider there is a security risk or risk of money laundering, we may remove, terminate, suspend or reduce any of the services we make available to you without giving you notice.

• We are under legal requirement to do so
• We have a public duty to disclosure
• Our interests mean that we must give the information, for example to prevent and protect ourselves from fraudulent activities
• We have your specific consent to disclose.
• We have the right to do so under paragraph 25 below.

• Statement of accounts will be sent to you by post half yearly intervals or at such intervals as you requested at the time of opening the account. If you wish to change the frequency of the statements, you should send us a written request to this effect. We will apply charges to your account as set out in our Schedule of Service Charges for every duplicate statement you request.
• You should examine your statements carefully and inform us immediately when you do not recognize a transaction to prevent fraud.
• All communications from us including statements, advices, change in terms will be in English.

• You will be responsible for any money owed in the account. In case of joint accounts, all the account holders will be jointly and individually responsible for any sums owed. If one or more of the account holders are unable to pay money owed to us, the remaining account holders will be liable for the entire amount even if their relationship has ended.
• We will be responsible for any loss of funds on account of unauthorized transactions unless you are liable under Section19.3. In such a case we shall refund the amount along with any interest you are entitled to and we shall have no further liability to you.
• You will be responsible for all the losses due to unauthorized transactions if it is proved that you acted fraudulently or due to gross negligence or intentionally failed to inform us of the loss of your cheque book, or other documents relating to your account. We do not hold you liable for any losses resulting from these items being misappropriated which are incurred after you notify us of that misappropriation.
• If we carry out a transaction in accordance with your instructions which later transpire to have been incorrect, we will (at a reasonable cost to you) make reasonable efforts to recover the relevant funds. However we have no further liability to you if the funds cannot be recovered.
• If we make an incorrect payment which was not in accordance with your instructions then we will refund the relevant sum to you plus any interest you were entitled to and any other charges which you may have incurred as a result, unless the error was due to abnormal or unforeseen circumstances outside of our control.

• The unused cheque leaves are returned to us;
• Any charges or interest payable but not debited to the account are paid;
• All amounts due for any cheques issued, or any other payment instructions are paid; and
• Direct debits or standing orders with third parties on the account are cancelled.

• Obtain from you or third parties, such as employers, joint account holders, credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies or other organizations when you apply for an account with us or for any of our other products or services, or which you or they give to us at any other time; or
• Learn from the way in which your accounts with us are administered and managed, from the transactions made such as the date, amount, currency and the name and type of supplier (for example, supermarket services, medical services, transactions in assets, retail services) and from the payments which are made to and from your accounts with us.

• other companies within the Bank of India group of companies (which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company, Head Office and its subsidiaries)
• our partners and companies and organisations that provide services to us or assist us or act as our agents including but not limited to sub-contractors and professional advisors
• anyone to whom we may transfer our rights and/or obligations under any agreement we have with you
• any third party as a result of any restructure, sale or acquisition of any company within the Bank of India group of companies
• your advisers (including but not limited to accountants, lawyers or other professional advisors) where authorised by you
• Regulators (Reserve Bank of India and other regulators in India and UK Regulators like FCA/PRA/HMRC/HMT/FSCS etc.), credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies, law enforcement and debt recovery agencies, Credit default databases like CIBIL and ECGC, RBI Wilful Defaulters List, CRILC etc. in India and U.K. and other organisations for the purposes of preventing crime, verifying your identity and recovering debt.

• You make a joint application;
• You advise us of a financial association with another person; or
• If the credit reference agencies have existing linked or "associate" records.

• We may change our banking hours, availability of banking branches by display of notice in our branches or in the press or by post or by posting on our Website.
• You agree that we may use your contact details you have provided us including postal address, telephone, mobile number and email address to contact you for reasons connected to operating your account. You must at all times ensure that we have the correct contact details for you and notify us promptly of any changes in writing. You must make reasonable efforts to ensure the security of any confidential information that may affect the security of your account.
• We may block your account to protect you and us if we suspect fraud or other suspicious transactions. In such cases, we may be required to carry out the process of establishing your identity again. Once we have sufficient proof, we will reactivate your account.

• In the unlikely event that you remain unhappy with our response, or we have not sent you a final response within 8 weeks of the original complaint, you have the right to take your complaint to the FOS.
• If you would like the FOS to look into your complaint, you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued by us. You can find out more about the role of the FOS by contacting our Customer Services and requesting a copy of the leaflet, or you can write to: