RBI bars Bank of Baroda from onboarding new customers onto mobile app

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday directed the Bank of Baroda to suspend any further onboarding of their customers onto the 'bob World' mobile application with immediate effect.

This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of their customers onto this mobile application, the banking regulator says in a statement.

"Any further onboarding of customers of the bank on the 'bob World' application will be subject to rectification of the deficiencies observed and strengthening of the related processes by the bank to the satisfaction of RBI," the central bank says.

The bank has been further directed to ensure that already onboarded 'bob World' customers do not face any disruption on account of this suspension.

The regulator's action comes nearly three months after India's second-largest public sector bank denied media reports claiming that its officials used phone numbers of strangers to bump up users on its mobile banking app, bob World. Al Jazeera had alleged that the state-run bank's officials linked bank accounts to unrelated mobile numbers to meet app onboarding targets.

This comes ahead of the lender's board meeting on October 11 to consider and approve the raising of funds through issuance of long term bonds for financing of infrastructure and affordable housing.

Penalties On Co-operative Banks

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India also imposed a monetary penalty of ₹13 lakh on SBPP Co-operative Bank Ltd, Killa Pardi, Gujarat for non-compliance with directions issued by RBI on 'Interest Rate on Deposits'. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers conferred on RBI under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. This action is based on deficiency in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. The central bank also imposed a monetary penalty of ₹6 lakh on The Sahayadri Sahakari Bank Limited, Mumbai for contravention of Section 26A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (BR Act), specific directions issued by RBI under the Supervisory Action Framework (SAF), and non-compliance with the RBI Directions on ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’ and ‘Maintenance of Deposit Accounts - Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks’.

The RBI also imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1 lakh on Rahimatpur Sahakari Bank Ltd, Satara, for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on ‘Maintenance of Deposit Accounts- Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks’. The central bank also imposed a monetary penalty of ₹4.5 lakh on The Kalyan Janata Sahakari Bank Limited, Kalyan, Maharashtra for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on ‘Interest Rates on Deposits’ and ‘Maintenance of Deposit Accounts’.

These actions are based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and are not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers, the RBI says.