Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS) India’s central bank has ordered all banks to take effective steps to ensure that none of their customers have links with any terror group like the Al-Qaida or the Taliban based on a consolidated list made available to them.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked these banks to scan all existing accounts and see that none of them are held by individuals or entities named in the revised list of persons and entities with alleged links to these terror groups.

In a letter to the chairmen and chief executives of such banks, the RBI also asked them to update their list of account-holders to check for such terror links and follow these guidelines when a person or an entity opens a new account.

“It should be ensured that names of the proposed customer does not appear in the list. Further, banks should scan all existing accounts to ensure that no account is held by or linked to any of the entities or individuals included in the list,” said the letter.

The central bank’s latest directive comes in the wake of a list of entities with terror links sent recently by the UN Security Council to India’s external affairs ministry and also requesting banks to update their concerned list accordingly.