The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha. It allows bank account holders to have up to four nominees in their accounts.

Another proposed change relates to redefining ‘substantial interest’ for directorships, which could increase to ₹2 crore from ₹5 lakh, which was fixed almost six decades ago.

“Banks are being professionally run today. The metrics are healthy so they can go to the market and raise bonds, raise loans & run their business accordingly,” said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

She said depositors will have the option of successive or simultaneous nomination facility, while locker holders will have only successive nomination.

PSU bank merger

The government is not considering the merger of public sector banks, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, he said several steps have been taken by the government to strengthen the financial condition of public sector banks.

Chaudhary said the reforms have created systemic improvements and instituted checks and controls to minimise the risk of recurrence of excessive stress.

With inputs from PTI