Demat, locker operations allowed

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Sunday said that the demat accounts and safe deposit lockers of the bank's customers will be allowed to be operated as usual.

The moratorium is unlikely to have any impact in trading in securities tomorrow as SEBI along with stock exchanges have initiated steps to ensure that brokers having accounts with GTB do not face any problem. The RBI announcement came as a relief to several demat account holders who were worried about their security transactions following the RBI freeze on transactions of GTB.

The RBI has reiterated that the objective of the moratorium was to protect the interests and safety of funds of all depositors, with necessary action being initiated to ensure the "return to normalcy". It also clarified that all the branches of GTB will continue to remain open as per their normal working hours to help its customers and enable them to make the permitted withdrawals.

"The RBI stands by its assurance to meet any requirement of cash at the branches of the bank for making the permitted payments under the Order of moratorium. The bank has set up helplines to assist the members of public at Mumbai and Hyderabad," an RBI release said.

The BSE has informed that though GTB is one of the clearing banks of BSE, very few members are coming through the bank and the amount involved is small. "The amount of bank guarantees and FDRs of GTB given by the members are not significant. The BSE is in touch with the members and we do not envisage any problems in settlement tomorrow," a BSE press release said.