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RBI fines Airtel Payments Bank Rs 50 million for KYC norms breach

The central bank made by a supervisory visit to the payments bank between November 20 and 22

Nikhat Hetavkar  |  Mumbai 

RBI, Reserve Bank of India
A woman walks past the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai | Photo: Reuters

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 50 million on for breaching payment bank guidelines and Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.


The central bank made by a supervisory visit to the payments bank between November 20 and 22, wherein it was concluded that there were deficiencies in the payment bank’s regulatory compliance. Following which, the sent a show cause notice to on January 15, 2018.


This visit was due to complaints and adverse media reports alleging that “the bank had opened customer accounts without a clear or specific consent of the customers”, said the in a statement.


The (UIDAI) had slapped notices on Bharti Airtel and in September 2017, for using the Aadhaar-eKYC based SIM verification process for opening payments bank accounts of subscribers without their “informed consent”. In December 2017, UIDAI had also temporarily barred the two entities from conducting KYC verification and later instructed payments to complete the customer KYC verification process independently of their telecom partners, through third parties.


The also fined State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Indian Overseas Bank this week, for non-compliance of directions on detection and impounding of counterfeit notes, non performing asset(NPA) norms and KYC regulations respectively.


The central bank said that the fine was due to the bank’s failure to adhere to the guidelines/directions issued by and not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

First Published: Fri, March 09 2018. 20:40 IST
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