Banking Regulation Act, 1949 — back to Table of Contents
Section 45ZE. Release of contents of safety lockers
(1) Where one or more individuals hire a locker from a banking company (whether the locker sits in the bank’s safe deposit vault or elsewhere), the hirer, or all joint hirers together, may nominate one or more persons — up to a maximum of four, successively — to whom the bank may give access to the locker, and liberty to remove its contents, in the event of the death of the sole hirer or of all the joint hirers.
(2) Where the locker is jointly hired by two or more individuals whose contract of hire requires it to be operated under the joint signatures of two or more hirers, those hirers may nominate one or more persons to whom the bank may give access — jointly with the surviving hirer(s) — in the event of the death of a joint hirer.
(3) Every nomination under sub-section (1) or (2) must be made in the prescribed manner.
(4) Before allowing a nominee (or a nominee together with surviving hirers) to remove the locker’s contents, the bank must prepare an inventory in the manner the Reserve Bank directs, have it signed by the nominee or by the nominee and surviving hirers jointly, and deliver a copy to them.
(5) Once the contents are removed by the nominee (or jointly with survivors) under this section, the bank’s liability in relation to the locker’s contents is discharged.
(6) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding lies against a banking company for any damage caused, or likely to be caused, by allowing access to a locker and permitting removal of its contents in accordance with sub-section (1) or (2).
Note: Part IIIB was inserted by the Banking Companies (Second Amendment) Act, 1960. Sub-section (1) as set out above reflects the amendment made by the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, effective 1 November 2025, which replaced the earlier single-nominee rule with up to four successive nominees.
