Venkat Sattiraju

Hybrid ATMs: To address the shortage of small change, the RBI is piloting "hybrid ATMs" that dispense smaller denominations (\₹10, \₹20, \₹50) to support cash needs alongside digital transactions.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is introducing new guidelines for Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) to enhance security and curb fraud, effective January 1, 2026. These guidelines focus on stricter Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures for AePS operators, enhanced monitoring of their activities, and technological improvements to prevent unauthorized transactions. Here's a breakdown of the key changes: Stricter KYC and Onboarding: Banks will need to conduct thorough KYC checks before onboarding AePS Touchpoint Operators (ATOs) and periodically update their KYC information. Enhanced Monitoring: Banks will monitor ATO activities through transaction monitoring systems and set operational parameters based on their risk profiles. Technological Controls: Banks will implement system-level controls to ensure that technological integrations like APIs are used only for AePS operations. Fraud Risk Management: Banks will establish fraud risk management frameworks that consider factors like location, transaction volume, and velocity of transactions . Customer Consent: Customers may need to explicitly consent to enabling or disabling AePS as a debit mode, similar to international card transactions, according to ET BFSI. Inactive Account Handling: Banks may need to disable AePS services for accounts with no AePS activity for a specified period (e.g., 12 months). Simran Singh Rahul Srivastava Kirandeep Singh Juned Sayed Deepankar Aggarwal

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RBI’s 28 November 2025 Consolidation & Withdrawal Exercise – A Governance View On 28 November 2025, RBI undertook an important exercise of consolidation and withdrawal of circulars / directions, with the objective of simplifying the regulatory landscape and improving clarity for regulated entities. While the intent is progressive, the exercise has raised practical governance questions for banks, particularly around: Identification of actionable vs non-actionable requirements Situations where “no actionable” was declared earlier, but certain clauses surfaced subsequently Regulatory intent vs operational interpretation Board-level reporting and escalation expectations Managing implementation across business, operations, compliance and IT From a regulatory advisory and governance standpoint, this consolidation reinforces the need for: Conservative interpretation Early identification of grey areas Clear documentation and escalation Decisions that remain defensible during supervisory scrutiny I believe this is an area where practitioner-level discussion can add significant value, beyond just reading the master directions. I would like to invite banking, compliance and risk professionals to share their experiences and views on how their institutions are approaching this consolidation exercise from a governance and compliance maturity perspective. Looking forward to a constructive exchange of views.

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RBI’s Revised Current Account Guidelines: A Meaningful and Much Needed Shift Did a quick review of RBI’s revised guidelines on maintenance of Current / CC / OD accounts (effective 1 April 2026). My takeaway: this is a clear shift from a prescriptive framework to a more principle-based approach, while continuing to uphold credit discipline. A few changes stand out for banks and corporates: • Cash Credit (CC) is now explicitly outside current account restrictions—making it, where backed by genuine working-capital needs, the most effective route to become the operative banker. • The threshold for unrestricted current/OD accounts has moved up to ₹10 crore (from ₹5 crore), improving onboarding flexibility for smaller and mid-sized borrowers. • For borrowers with exposure above ₹10 crore, transaction account eligibility is now based on principles, with any bank meeting the 10% exposure (total or fund-based) criterion being eligible—no cap on the number of banks. • Collection Accounts can be opened even without lending exposure, creating strong opportunities in CMS, BBPS and digital collections. • Product Accounts are a big change—RBI has now formally recognised restricted, product-linked accounts (e.g. FX import remittances, digital/platform flows), enabling banks to retain FX, trade and fee income without breaching current account discipline. Overall, this framework offers much-needed flexibility, encourages better banking structures, and allows banks to engage clients through solutions rather than workarounds. Would be interesting to see how banks and corporates operationalise this over the next few months.

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As a Principal Nodal Officer, I firmly believe that a robust grievance redressal framework forms the foundation of trust, transparency and accountability in the banking ecosystem. Every concern raised by a customer reflects an expectation — that the system will listen with empathy, respond promptly, and resolve with fairness. The Nodal Officers’ Meeting held at the Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman Office, Thiruvananthapuram, provided valuable insights into the RBI’s expectations and priorities for the coming year. The discussions reinforced our shared responsibility to continuously strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms, improve service quality, and enhance the overall customer experience. #CustomerCentricity #BankingLeadership #GrievanceRedressal #CustomerExperience #BankingExcellence #RBI #LeadershipInBanking #ServiceQuality

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