Too many acronyms make passbooks a puzzling read

CLG, NEFT, XFER, EAW and INF. Perplexed? A look at your bank passbook or statement would throw up these terms to you.

Mohan Siroya, a suburban-Mumbai resident, too was confused when saw his IDBI bank passbook stating “BY CLG/ZN MICR/SE” for cheques that he had deposited. When Siroya approached the call centre to know the cheque details such as number, which were not mentioned in the passbook, he was told that the same would be available at the branch.

The branch head too told Siroya that the centralised system needs to be changed to effect changes in passbook. But not just IDBI Bank, several other public sector banks (PSBs) and some private sector banks too use technical terms that are not easy to decipher in the passbook or statement.

When approached by DNA, an IDBI official looking after the systems said, “We are aware of the problem and are trying to change the systems. But there are practical difficulties we are facing. Sometimes, customers put 20 cheques in one slip.”

Central Bank of India uses XFER for transfer and CLG for clearing, while other PSBs use CHS for cash transaction and TR for transfer.

Private sector bank HDFC Bank uses several terms such as EAW, NWD, OWD, ATW, ATS, NFS and AWB for automated teller machine (ATM) transactions at various bank ATMs. So, if you withdraw money from HDFC Bank ATMs it will indicate ATW on the statement, while for erstwhile Centurion Bank ATM transactions, the code would be OWD.

ICICI Bank uses three terms such as VAT / MAT / NFS referring to cash withdrawal at other bank ATMs, but the same are mentioned at the end of statements sent out electronically.

This is done in spite of Reserve Bank of India noting in a circular issued in April 2004, that “…banks invariably show the entries in depositors passbooks / statement of accounts as “By Clearing” or “By Cheque”…In some cases computerised entries use sophisticated codes which just cannot be deciphered.”

RBI then had asked banks to simplify the passbooks and statements. “With a view to avoiding inconvenience to depositors, banks are advised to avoid such inscrutable entries in passbooks/ statements of account and ensure that brief, intelligible particulars are invariably entered in passbooks/ statements of account,” RBI’s C R Muralidharan had suggested in the circular.

A former bank employee says until banks upgrade their software to simplify the statement, they should provide a glossary at the end of a statement to make it more customer-friendly.

Some banks realise that customers calling up or visiting the branch to understand the account statement would burden their branches with more work and tend to simplify the account statement.

“We always mention the beneficiary name (person whose account the money will be withdrawn or deposited to) besides the cheque, which needs to be entered in the system manually. Even if 10 cheques are deposited via one slip, we mention 10 separate transactions for each cheque. Ideally, the description needs to be made as customer friendly as possible. It has more to do with individual banks then a generic issue,” an official with a PSB said, requesting anonymity.

Electronic clearing service (ECS, used for regular or large number of single payments) and national electronic funds transfer (NEFT — transferring money from one account to another) and real-time gross settlement (RTGS — transferring large sum from one account to another) are recent entrants into the statements and passbooks for
people who make funds transfer or use other electronic means to transact.

Cracking the code
Central Bank of India uses XFER for transfer and CLG for clearing, while other public banks use CHS for cash transaction and TR for transfer

ICICI Bank uses three terms (VAT / MAT / NFS) for cash withdrawal at other bank ATMs, but the same are mentioned at the end of statements sent out electronically
HDFC Bank uses several terms such as EAW, NWD, OWD, ATW, ATS, NFS and AWB for automated teller machine transactions at various bank ATMs

In a circular issued in April 2004, RBI had noted that “computerised entries use sophisticated codes which just cannot be deciphered” and suggested banks “avoid such inscrutable entries”