RBI releases draft guidelines on account aggregators

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said only non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) registered with the central bank could act as an account aggregator, which provides consolidated views of financial assets, such as savings bank deposits, fixed deposits, mutual funds, and insurance policies for the customer to choose from. In draft guidelines on account aggregator NBFCs, RBI said the net owned fund of such companies should not be less than Rs 2 crore and the company should not undertake any other business other than being an account aggregator. The business will be IT-driven and initially, only financial assets whose records are stored electronically and are under the regulation of the financial sector regulators, namely, RBI, Sebi, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority shall be considered for aggregation.

RBI switches bonds

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said it had converted two securities maturing in 2016-17 and one security maturing in 2021-22 having total face value of about Rs 37,300 crore from its own portfolio with longer tenor securities maturing in 2023-24 and 2024-25 with the government. This was part of RBI's plan to "switch" securities and address fragmented securities outstanding and ease the pressure on the exchequer by prolonging the maturity of existing securities, as envisaged last year.

In March 2015, RBI had switched more than Rs 30,000 crore of bonds from its own account to longer maturity 2026-27 bonds with the government.