The Reserve Bank of India issued new curbs against Paytm’s Payments Bank, which processes transactions for financial services giant Paytm, barring it from offering many banking services including accepting deposits, credit transactions, top-ups in customer accounts, prepaid instruments and wallets after February 29.
Wednesday’s move follows the Indian central bank ordering Paytm Payments Bank to stop accepting new customer accounts in 2022. RBI said a comprehensive audit by external auditors found “persistent” non-compliances and “continued material supervisory concerns” in the bank.
The RBI also directed One97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm, and Paytm Payments Services to terminate their nodal accounts “at the earliest.” Customers can continue to withdraw money from their accounts, RBI said. Without the nodal account, Paytm will likely have to move many of its businesses to other banks, according to preliminary assessment by industry executives.
Payment Payments Bank will also not be allowed to offer credit transactions, including via wallets, RBI said.
In 2022, RBI slapped Paytm Payments Bank with penalties after finding that the Noida-headquartered firm had violated rules by allowing data to flow to servers outside of India and didn’t properly verify its customers.
More to follow.