The survey by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, received more than 114,000 responses from banking users across 307 districts of India.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), representing around 90% of the banking sector’s workforce, has called the September 28-30 strike over demands including a five-day banking week, filling of vacancies and pension-related issues. The unions are also opposing a separate Performance Linked Incentive scheme for senior officers.
Repeated KYC biggest pain point
Repeated KYC requests despite having completed the process earlier emerged as the biggest banking irritant, with 67% of 22,786 respondents citing it.
Mandatory branch visits for tasks that should be available online were cited by 47%, while excessive paperwork or document requests and poor grievance redressal were each cited by 39%.
Another 33% each pointed to delays in updating KYC or personal information and difficulty reaching someone who could resolve their issue. About 22% said their account was frozen or debit-blocked until additional documents were submitted.
The survey found that 38% of respondents had never faced delays or difficulties accessing their own money because of bank processes. However, 24% had faced the issue once, 29% two to three times, 4% four to five times and 5% more than five times.
58% report stress and anxiety
The impact of these delays also extended beyond inconvenience, according to the survey.
Among 24,024 respondents, 58% said significant stress and anxiety was the biggest impact when bank processes prevented or delayed access to their money.
Another 38% said they had lost interest, a business opportunity, or incurred a financial loss, while 35% each said they had missed a payment or bill or that their business or professional work had been disrupted.
A further 27% said they could not meet an emergency expense and 23% said they had to borrow money temporarily.
87% want one-time KYC
The survey found strong demand for simpler KYC processes, with 87% of respondents wanting one-time KYC to be valid across all bank accounts unless their details change.
Another 68% wanted routine KYC and document updates to be completed digitally.
Meanwhile, 58% wanted banks to avoid freezing accounts without prior notice except where legally mandated. Compensation for customers wrongly denied access to their money and better customer support and grievance escalation were each sought by 55%.
Strike to hit branch services
The September 28-30 strike is expected to affect branch-based services such as cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque clearing and document-related work. Customers have been advised to use ATMs, UPI, internet banking and mobile banking where possible.
The Ministry of Finance had appealed to bank employees to call off the strike, saying most of the unions’ concerns had been substantially addressed.
It also cautioned that the strike, combined with the preceding weekend, would result in an effective five-day closure of banking services around September 30, which marks the half-yearly closing for banks.
The unions, however, have maintained that the five-day banking week was agreed upon under the 12th Bipartite Settlement signed in March 2024 and is still awaiting government notification.
UFBU has said it will defer the strike only if there is concrete and positive movement towards implementing the five-day banking week.
Co-operative banks are not participating in the strike and are expected to function normally during the three-day strike.
51% say banks are too bureaucratic
The LocalCircles survey also found that 51% of respondents believe banks are far too bureaucratic when handling fraud prevention, while another 20% said banks are somewhat too bureaucratic.
Only 2% said banks had struck the right balance between fraud prevention and customer convenience.
The survey comes amid continued concerns around KYC-related difficulties, account freezes and branch-dependent processes, with LocalCircles saying it will escalate its findings to the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Financial Services and other relevant authorities.
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