RBI to Come Out with Digital Payment Security Control Directions, Says Das

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the central bank will be introducing digital payment security control directions for regulated entities. Such a move will improve the security of digital payment channels and also convenience for users, Das said in a statement released after the bi-monthly review of the monetary policy in which RBI opted for a status quo in rates.

These directions will contain requirements for robust governance, implementation and monitoring of certain minimum standards on common security controls for channels like internet and mobile banking, card payments, etc, Das said. Draft directions on the same will be issued soon for public comments, he added.

The announcement comes a day after the RBI temporarily barred largest private sector lender HDFC Bank from selling new credit cards or launching new digital banking initiatives, taking a serious view of service outages at the systemically important bank over the last two years. The digital banking app of the country’s largest lender SBI was also facing service outages on Thursday, the second time in a week that the bank was struggling with the service.

On Thursday, Das said preservation of financial stability and depositors’ interest is the uppermost priority on the RBI’s agenda and cited the rescues of Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank as efforts in the same direction. While we are constantly focused on strengthening the regulations and deepening our supervision, financial sector entities like banks and NBFCs should also give highest priority to quality of governance, risk management and internal controls, he said.

He said the banks and non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) are the first line of defence in matters relating to financial sector stability.