RBI releases final guidelines on account aggregators
Only NBFCs that have registered with RBI will be allowed to undertake account aggregation
Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday released final guidelines around setting up a category of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) called account aggregators.
According to the definition provided by the central bank, account aggregators are companies that will collect and provide information on a customer’s financial assets, in a consolidated, organized and retrievable manner to the customer or any other person as per the instructions of the customer.
This follows a set of draft guidelines that the regulator had released on the matter in March.
Only NBFCs that have registered with RBI will be allowed to undertake account aggregation. These NBFCs will first receive in-principle approvals from the regulator and will have 12 months to put in place the necessary technology and tie-ups required for the aggregation business.
After the NBFCs have achieved this, they can apply for a final licence.
Companies that aggregate accounts of only a particular financial sector governed by other regulators can be exempted from seeking RBI approval, the central bank said.
Such NBFCs should have minimum net-owned funds of ₹ 2 crore and cannot provide any services other than account aggregation, the central bank said, adding that the account aggregator cannot support transactions in financial assets.
Companies that do not fulfil the minimum ₹ 2 crore net-owned funds limit will have 12 months after the in-principle approval to raise money.
The NBFCs would provide account aggregation services in response to a specific application by the customer for such a service and would be backed by appropriate agreements and authorizations, the norms said.
An account aggregator will be required to have a board-approved policy for pricing services. The pricing will be in strict conformity with the internal guidelines adopted by the account aggregator which need to be transparent and available in the public domain, RBI said.
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