Nominees will now get access to digital assets such as demat shares and MFs
Users can appoint data access nominees within the DigiLocker application. In the event of the user’s demise, these nominees will be granted read-only access to the DigiLocker account, ensuring that essential financial information is easily accessible to legal heirs.
Stock market watchdog Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) announced on 19 March that it is collaborating with DigiLocker to offer nominees an access to assets of their deceased loved ones.
According to the circular, “users can appoint data access nominees within the DigiLocker application. In the event of the user’s demise, these nominees will be granted read-only access to the DigiLocker account, ensuring that essential financial information is easily accessible to legal heirs.”
Those using Digilocker can now store and fetch their statement of holdings for both shares and mutual funds from their demat account, along with their consolidated account statement (CAS), in Digilocker itself.
“This expands the existing DigiLocker services, which already include bank account statements, insurance policy certificates, and NPS account statements”, the circular noted.
Already, DigiLocker, which functions as a digital wallet for various documents, facilitates the storage of Aadhaar, PAN card, driving licence, death certificate and more.
Generally, a folio / account is marked as unclaimed when the dividend / interest credit remains unsuccessful or the letter or cheque returns undelivered. Even if the interest or dividend may be getting credited in the deceased user’s account, family members might not apply for the transmission of such folio or account, since they are unaware of its existence in the first place. This makes the account not only unclaimed, but also unidentified.
If one is appointed data access nominee by the deceased, upon notification of the user’s demise by KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs), the DigiLocker system will automatically notify that person. This will be done via SMS and email.
Once this is done, the nominee can initiate the process of transmission of the financial asset by approaching the concerned AMC (Asset Management Company) for mutual fund units or DP (Depository Participant) for shares.
KRAs will be responsible for verification of the user’s demise and accordingly triggering notification to the appropriate nominees.
Says Mr Vivek Banka, Founder, GoalTeller, “One paradigm facility that has been introduced here is the ” Data Access Nominees” feature that helps users appoint dependants/ family members/ friends /wealth managers/ lawyers who can have access to this data on a view basis to help transition the assets smoothly in an uncertain event which is unprecedented. The trigger, with the help of KYC agencies, is a great step to ensure that this is not misused.” He adds that the impact could be manifold, from helping individuals access their financial data at fingertips, ensuring the nominees are registered, tracking and monitoring performance.