In 2022, a lot of financial changes await us. From ATM fees becoming costlier to new guidelines on bank lockers that will make them safer. Here is a detailed list of six key personal finance changes that will come into effect from 2022.

India Post Payments Bank to charge fees on account deposits 
From January 1, 2022, account holders at the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will have to pay more charges in order to withdraw cash from their accounts if they exceed the prescribed limit. The new rule was notified earlier this year by the state-owned lender. The IPPB has also revised rates on cash withdrawals from the accounts of its customers, applicable from the same date. 

"This is to inform all the concerned that charges of cash deposit & cash withdrawal transactions as mentioned will be effective from 01st January 2022. These prices are exclusive of GST/ CESS which will be levied at the applicable rates," the payments bank said in a note on its website. 

The India Post Payments Bank has three types of savings accounts — Regular Savings Account, Digital Savings Account and Basic Savings Accounts. 

Bank lockers rules

From January 2022, your bank lockers are set to get safer, as per an RBI instruction. It mentioned that banks just cannot deny liability if a customer's locker is compromised due to the negligence of the bank. 

"It is the responsibility of banks to take all steps for the safety and security of the premises in which the safe deposit vaults are housed. It has the responsibility to ensure that incidents like fire, theft/ burglary/ robbery, dacoity, building collapse do not occur in the bank's premises due to its own shortcomings, negligence and by any act of omission/commission. As banks cannot claim that they bear no liability towards their customers for loss of contents of the locker, in instances where loss of contents of locker are due to incidents mentioned above or attributable to fraud committed by its employee(s), the banks' liability shall be for an amount equivalent to one hundred times the prevailing annual rent of the safe deposit locker," the central bank has said in a notification. 

ATM Withdrawals to Get Costlier from January 1 

Bank customers have to pay hiked extra charges on ATM withdrawals, irrespective of their banks, once their monthly limit gets exhausted. The Reserve Bank of India, in a notification earlier, had said that customers will have to pay even more charges from January 2022 for ATM transactions once the limit exceeds.

This means that the change is set to be implemented late next week. Customers have already got notifications from their banks as the date nears. Currently, a bank customer pays Rs 20 per transaction at all ATMs to withdraw money once the monthly free limit exceeds. Now the rates are set to be hiked by Rs 1 per extra transaction each month.

Bank KYC

RBI had delayed this action of freezing bank accounts of those holders who have still not completed their KYC till December 31. If you have still not yet completed your KYC, then do it quickly otherwise you may lose access to your financial instruments and money kept in any bank or other similar institutions after January 1.

File your belated income tax return

The extended deadline to file ITR for AY 2021-22 by individuals ends on December 31. The original deadline was July 31, 2021, but it got extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic and glitches on the new income tax filing portal. From January 1, you can file a belated return till March 31, 2022. However, a belated return will attract late-filing fees of Rs 5,000 under section 234F. If your income is less than Rs 5 lakh, the penalty is restricted to Rs 1,000, if the income tax return (ITR) is filed after December 31 but before March 31, 2022.

SEBI revises risk management framework for mutual funds

To protect the interests of investors and to ensure that mutual funds render a high standard of service, SEBI has revised the risk management framework (RMF), which is effective from January 1. SEBI’s new RMF terms risk management as an independent and specific function of the asset management company. For each risk, such as investment risk, compliance risk, operational risk and cyber security, the asset management company (AMC) should appoint a dedicated risk officer. Besides these, there should be a chief risk officer (CRO) in each asset management company. The RMF specifies the policies, procedures, roles and risk management functions of the management, board of the AMC and board of the trustees. SEBI's revised RMF also expressed the need for monitoring risks associated with managing distribution channels and processes around commission payouts.