THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The RBI has made it clear through a newspaper advertisement that cooperative societies should not use the name bank. It applies to 1625 cooperative societies in the state. RBI had given similar instructions earlier.

The RBI's advertisement also states that there is no protection for investments in cooperative societies. Minister VN Vasavan said that the Reserve Bank had earlier issued a directive not to use the name of cooperative societies as banks. A stay was bought for it. The minister said that the cooperation department will examine the new notification. The state had also approached the court against the RBI.

According to the Banking Regulation Amendment Act, cooperative societies should not use the words 'bank', 'banker' and 'banking' in their names. According to the note, the RBI has noticed that some cooperative societies are using the word bank in their name in violation of section seven of the BR Act.