The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (FRDI Bill), introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, 2017, is under consideration of the Joint Committee of the Parliament. The Joint Committee is consulting all the stakeholders on the provisions of the FRDI Bill.
This Bill is similar to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, which was enacted last year in May. Both of these are about issues that can arise when companies go bankrupt or insolvent, except that this Bill deals only with the companies that are in the financial sector. The insolvency code Act deals with companies in all other sectors. The FRDI will provide a comprehensive resolution framework to deal with bankruptcy situations in financial sector entities such as banks and insurance companies.
Presently, each depositor of banks can be only protected up to a limit of Rs. 1 lakh by the guarantee of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). Remaining deposits (i.e. beyond Rs. 1 lakh of deposits in a bank) do not have any deposit protection guarantee and are treated, at par with claims of unsecured creditors as of now.
Besides providing similar protection / guarantee of Rs. 1 lakh to depositors, as it exists today, the rights of uninsured depositors are being placed at an elevated status in the FRDI Bill compared to the existing legal arrangements over the unsecured creditors and even Government dues.
Highlights of the Bill:
-The Bill establishes a Resolution Corporation to monitor financial firms, anticipate risk of failure, take corrective action, and resolve them in case of such failure. The Corporation will also provide deposit insurance up to a certain limit, in case of bank failure.
-The Resolution Corporation or the appropriate financial sector regulator may classify financial firms under five categories, based on their risk of failure. These categories in the order of increasing risk are: (i) low, (ii) moderate, (iii) material, (iv) imminent, and (v) critical.
-The Resolution Corporation will take over the management of a financial firm once it is classified as ‘critical’. It will resolve the firm within one year (may be extended by another year).
-Resolution may be undertaken using methods including: (i) merger or acquisition, (ii) transferring the assets, liabilities and management to a temporary firm, or (iii) liquidation. If resolution is not completed within a maximum period of two years, the firm will be liquidated. The Bill also specifies the order of distributing liquidation proceeds.
FRDI Bill 2017 seeks to protect customers of financial service providers in times of financial distress.
It also aims to inculcate discipline among financial service providers in the event of financial crises, by limiting the use of public money to bail out distressed entities.
The Bill would help in maintaining financial stability in the economy by ensuring adequate preventive measures, while at the same time providing the necessary instruments for dealing with crisis events.
The Bill aims to strengthen and streamline the current framework of deposit insurance for the benefit of retail depositors.
Further, it seeks to decrease the time and costs involved in resolving distressed financial entities.
Once enacted, a resolution corporation will be setup to strengthen the stability and resilience of the entities in the financial sector.
The FRDI Bill is far more depositor friendly than many other jurisdictions, which provide for statutory bail-in, where consent of creditors / depositors is not required for bail-in.
The FRDI Bill does not propose in any way to limit the scope of powers for the Government to extend financing and resolution support to banks, including public sector banks. Government’s implicit guarantee for public sector banks remains unaffected.
Indian Banks have adequate capital and are also under prudent regulation and supervision to ensure safety and soundness, as well as systemic stability. The existing laws ensure the integrity, security and safety of the banking system.
In India, all possible steps and policy measures are taken to prevent the failure of banks and protection of interests of depositors (e.g. issue of directions / prompt corrective action measures, capital adequacy and prudential norms).
The FRDI Bill will strengthen the system by adding a comprehensive resolution regime that will help ensure that, in the rare event of failure of a financial service provider, there is a system of quick, orderly and efficient resolution in favour of depositors.
