RBI allows account aggregator interoperability, enables CAS bank deposits | Finance News
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will introduce interoperability among NBFC-Account Aggregators (NBFC-AAs), allowing people to access and share their financial data across different providers through a single aggregator of their choice.
The central bank will also facilitate depositories regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to include information about bank deposit accounts in their Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) through NBFC-AAs.
“This will enable demat account holders to view information relating to their demat account holdings and bank deposit accounts at one place in the CAS,” it said on Wednesday.
“Customers, including those who do not have demat accounts, can continue to obtain a consolidated view of their financial information and share the same through the NBFC-AAs also.”
The measures to improve customer convenience are expected to be implemented by December 31, 2026.
AAs are non-banking financial companies licensed by the RBI to act as a bridge between Financial Information Providers (FIPs) and Financial Information Users (FIUs). They facilitate the secure transfer of customers’ financial information, with their consent, from FIPs that hold the data to FIUs that use it to provide financial services.
FIPs are institutions such as banks and NBFCs that hold customers’ financial information and share it with FIUs through requests routed via an AA. FIUs receive digitally signed financial data from FIPs through AAs and use it to provide services such as loans, insurance and wealth management.
As many as 17 RBI-licensed Account Aggregators (AAs) are active in India, including CAMSFinServ, CRIF Connect, NESL Asset Data, Protean and PB Financial.
As of August, 338.04 million accounts were linked through the AA framework, up 24 per cent from 272.46 million in February. In August alone, 11.72 million accounts were linked and 27.94 million new consents were fulfilled.
The cumulative number of consents fulfilled stood at 566.26 million as of August. AAs also delivered 352.48 million datasets on linked accounts during the month, the highest monthly level between February and August. This compares with 265.67 million data sets delivered in February, indicating a substantial increase in the use of the AA framework for sharing financial information.
Depositories hold investors’ securities such as shares, bonds and mutual fund units in electronic (dematerialised) form. There are two Sebi-regulated depositories in the country: National Securities Depository Limited and Central Depository Services (India) Limited.
