Airtel Payments Bank gets RBI nod to start enrolling new customers

After running into rough weather due to Aadhaar-related e-KYC issues, Airtel Payments Bank on Thursday said it has received requisite approvals from the Reserve Bank of India and UIDAI to start acquiring new customers.

"Airtel Payments Bank has received requisite approvals from The Reserve Bank of India to start on-boarding new customers. Airtel Payments Bank has also been permitted by the UIDAI to resume the on-boarding of customers using Aaadhaar based e-KYC. We thank the authorities for the approvals," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"We remain committed to the government's vision of financial inclusion and banking for all," he added.

In an interview to IANS last week, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said: "The bank had started off very well, but we got into regulatory issues. We are working very closely with authorities (RBI and UIDAI) and hopefully this will be back to business soon and start acquiring customers. Right now have 30 million customers in the bank and the wallet. Operation is continuing for existing customers, but we are not acquiring new customers."

Airtel Payments Bank on May 24, 2018 announced the appointment of Anubrata Biswas as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

The appointment comes five months after former CEO and MD Shashi Arora stepped down in December.

The RBI on March 9 slapped a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Airtel Payments Bank Limited for violating KYC norms, an official statement said here.

"The Reserve Bank of India has imposed, on March 7, 2018, a monetary penalty of Rs 50 million on Airtel Payments Bank Limited for contravening the 'Operating Guidelines for Payments Banks' and directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms," the RBI statement had said.

--IANS

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