The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place an early warning system to prevent financial frauds.

The market intelligence units in its regional offices have been asked to pick-up early warnings on unscrupulous practices followed by financial institutions. This is part of the restructuring of the apex bank’s regional offices, to come into effect by May 15.

“These units are expected to enable the bank in identification of new opportunities and trends in the financial sector…detecting threats that such activities may post to the public,” it said. The unit will function under the overall supervision of a senior RBI officer, according to a recent circular.

An exclusive cell will also be created to monitor and take necessary action on complaints received, which do not come under the purview of the banking ombudsman. They will report to the consumer education and protection department in the central office.

Regional offices will be categorised into three tiers. Tier-I or metro offices will comprise the four in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

There will be 14 tier-II or non-metro regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, among others. In addition, 10 offices in tier-III places such as Agartala, Kochi, Panaji and Raipur will be functional, RBI said.

A cluster-based functional approach will be adopted broadly covering supervision, market intelligence and research, currency and banking services, financial inclusion and customer service, human resource management and infrastructure.

There will be no department of corporate services at the regional offices henceforth, while the urban bank department will become the department of cooperative bank supervision, according to the circular. (The Hindu Business)