Bank liable for unauthorised withdrawal even if no reply to SMS alert: HC

The Kerala High Court has said banks cannot be absolved of liability for unauthorised withdrawals from their customers' accounts.

Justice P B Suresh Kumar also made it clear that banks are liable for unauthorised withdrawals even if customers did not respond to SMS alerts.

SMS alerts cannot be the basis to determine the liability of a customer, for there would be account holders who may not be in the habit of checking SMS alerts regularly, the court said.

It stated this while dismissing an appeal filed by the State Bank of India recently against a lower court order asking it to compensate a customer who lost Rs 2.4 lakh due to unauthorised withdrawals. The customer had sought a refund of the amount with interest.

The bank had submitted that SMS alerts were sent to the customer about the disputed withdrawals and he should have requested that his account be blocked immediately.

It contended that since the customer did not respond to the SMS alerts, the bank was not liable for the loss caused to him.

"...one thing is certain that where a bank is providing service to its customer, it owes a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect the interests of the customer," the court said. Read More

Article Source -> Business Standard