Telangana Grameena Bank (TGB) and Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) have launched digital savings account opening facility through Video-Know Your Customer (KYC).
Formally launching the feature virtually, Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, State Bank Group, said regional rural banks (RRBs) have the skill set and ability to adopt new technologies.
The adoption of new technologies such as video-KYC is a reflection of the ‘progressive’ thinking of RRBs, he added.
Both banks, sponsored by SBI, will change the complexion of rural economy and make the parent bank ‘proud’, the SBI Chairman said.
With this, TGB and APGVB have become the first among RRBs in the country to adopt state-of-the-art technologies having full security features for zero contact onboarding of customers, which are at par with commercial banks.
According to V Arvind, Chairman, TGB, with this new facility, RRBs will be able to further increase their CASA portfolio.
TGB now operates in 18 districts in Telangana while APGVB has presence in 19 districts in Telangana and five districts in Andhra Pradesh.
The pre-bid meeting for the captioned work was held on February 25, 2021 at 15:30 hrs. at Reserve Bank of India, Issue Department, Mezzanine Floor, Patna – 800001 in presence of Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter called as “Bank”) officials where the following prospective tenderers participated.
For Reserve Bank of India:
SN
Name of the RBI Official
Designation
1
Shri Praveen Ranjan
Deputy General Manager
2
Shri Dipak Kumar Choudhary
Assistant General Manager
3
Shri Rajeev Ranjan
Manager
4
Shri Bibhutibhusan Malla
Assistant Manager
5
Shri Manjit Kumar
Assistant Manager
6
Shri Shyam Narayan Singh
Senior Assistant
For Tenderers:
SN
Name of the Firm
Name of the Representative
1
B R Singh Enterprises
Sri Madhav Murari
2
M/s Udyogam
Mr. Vimal Prakash
3
M/s Surendra Singh
Sri Tarun Kumar
4
G B. Lifting & Transportation System
Mr. Amresh Kumar
2. The queries raised by the representatives of the prospective tenderers and requisite clarifications issued by RBI, Patna are as under: –
SN
Query raised
Relevant section of Tender Document
Clarification
1
Tenderers enquired whether the files to be uploaded in bulk or in multiple pages
Para – 4 of the “Important instructions for e-procurement” of the Tender document.
Vendors are instructed to use Attach Documents link in bidding floor to upload documents in document library. Multiple documents can be uploaded. Maximum size of single document for upload is 4 MB. For further assistance the contact persons of MSTC Ltd. As mentioned in the Tender document.
2
What will be the minimum distance criteria for payment of Truck, Taxi and Bus charges?
(i) PART -II(B) (Taxi charges (To and Fro out of Patna) (Rs. Per km)) – Sl No. 6
(ii) PART -II(B) (Transport charges of filled note boxes by metal covered trucks (To and Fro) (Outside Patna Municipal) (Rs. Per km) – Sl No. 2
(iii) PART -II(B) (Bus for escort (To and Fro) upto 30 persons) (Outside Patna Municipal) (Rs. Per km) – Sl No. 2
(iv) PART- II(C) – Sl No.1 Transportation Charges (Rate per MT per km)
(i) Minimum charges of 125 kms will be paid towards taxi charges for out of Patna services.
(ii) Minimum charges of 75 kms will be paid towards transport charges of filled note boxes by metal covered trucks for outside Patna Municipal services.
(iii) Minimum charges of 75 kms will be paid towards transport charges by bus for outside Patna municipal services
(iv) Minimum charges of 75 kms will be paid for Transportation charges of coin remittance / coin lifting at vendor’s risk.
3
What is the carrying capacity of the containers for which rate will be quoted in price bid?
Part II (B) and (C) of the Tender document
As mentioned in the Para 2.4.2(d) (Eligibility for the Tenderer) of Section -II of the Tender document, minimum capacity of the container should be 7.5 MT. The rate should be quoted for 7.5MT containers.
4
Participants enquired about assurance of the total work/value of the Tender
Para 6 (Estimated cost of work) of the activity sheet of the Tender document
It was clarified that the value of the Tender is purely indicative in nature and the Bank has no obligation to incur expenditure equal or exceeding the above amount.
5
Tenderers enquired whether the trucks should be equipped with high resolution CCTV system prior to the bidding in the MSTC Portal
Para-2.4.2 (d)- Eligibility for the Tenderer – Vehicles Details of Section -II of the Tender document
The eligibility criteria must be fulfilled during the evaluation of technical bids submitted by the tenderers
6
Whether the Performance Bank Guarantee of Rs.3.00 Crore is towards security deposit for contract for supply of Labour and Transportation of Currency Note Boxes or the same pertains to only for Transportation of Coin Bags?
Para 2.10.2 of the Tender Document
The Bank Guarantee of an amount of Rs. 3.00 Crore is exclusively for transportation of coins only. The above Bank Guarantee is for covering the value of the coins under transportation.
Note:
The above minutes of pre-bid meeting shall form the part of bid document/Agreement
The minutes are also uploaded on MSTC portal
The other terms and conditions and specifications of the tender document shall continue to remain same
The above amendments / clarifications are issued for the information of all the intending bidders
Deputy General Manager Issue Department Reserve Bank of India, Patna
A taxpayer’s contributions to the NPS are tax-deductible under Section 80CCD(1) of the Income Tax Act of 1961. Individuals who contribute any amount to their NPS account during the fiscal year are liable for a tax benefit from their gross income of up to 10% of their basic wage for salaried employees and 20% of their overall income for self-employed citizens. This exemption is for contributions rendered directly by the employee or indirectly by the employer, i.e. as a tax benefit from wages. The exemption allowed under this provision, though, is limited to the total limit of Rs 1.5 lakh specified by Section 80CCE. The cumulative level of exemption allowed under sections 80C and 80 CCD(1) of the Income-tax Act is outlined in section 80CCE. Hence, in a financial year, investment in the section 80C category like PPF, EPF and NPS (under section 80CCD (1)) shall not cross the stated cap of Rs 1.5 lakh. Please remember that the overall amount that can be contributed towards NPS for the purpose of seeking a deduction under section 80CCD (1) cannot surpass 10% of an individual’s basic salary.
Contributions towards NPS by your employer
Contribution by your employer towards your (as an employee) NPS account falls under Section 17(1)(viii) of the Income-tax Act. That being said, the amount contributed by the employer is deductible under Section 80CCD(2) of the Income Tax Act, up to a maximum of 10% (14% in case of Central government employees) of basic salary for the fiscal year. This deduction is in addition to the tax benefit for employee contributions stated above, and it is not applicable to the total cap of Rs 1.5 lakh set out in Sections 80CCE and 80CCD (1b). That being said, under Section 17(2)(vii) of the Finance Act of 2020, an employer’s contribution towards PF, NPS, or a superannuation fund in excess of Rs 7.5 lakh in a fiscal year is considered as taxable for an employee.
Additional tax benefits under NPS for you as a taxpayer
Section 80CCD(1B) of the Income Tax Act allows an additional allowance of Rs 50,000 over and above the Rs 1.5 lakh accessible under Section 80CCE. Thereby, if you as a taxpayer has surpassed the Rs 1.5 lakh deduction cap under Section 80CCE through holding other contributions liable for deduction under the same section (other than NPS), a contribution rendered to NPS by you or your employer can be used to seek an additional Rs 50,000 deduction under Section 80CCD (1B).
Our take
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), which was developed by statute, governs NPS. The PFRDA sets investment criteria and regulates the system’s efficiency. The NPS account (PRAN) is unique, and the subscriber can transfer his or her pension account from one employer to another and from one place to another in case of a job change. Furthermore, as a tax-free element, one can withdraw up to 60% of the NPS maturity value. The remaining 40% should be retained in order to purchase an annuity, which is mandated. As a result, for retirees, NPS could be a suitable alternative. An Employee Provident Fund account can only be opened by an employee at first, but he or she can maintain it even after leaving the job or retiring, while an NPS account can be opened by anybody whether salaried or non-salaried. The same is true for PPF. A salaried individual can, in practice, have all of these accounts open at the same time. To maximise returns and minimise tax obligation, an employee with a high salary can use a blend of EPF and NPS. NPS returns remain tax-free until they are withdrawn from the portfolio at maturity. To deter wealthy individuals from contributing money in Provident Funds (PFs) in order to gain higher tax-free interest, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared in the Union Budget 2021-22 that PF deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh in a financial year will be taxable starting in the next budgetary year. Wealthy PF investors, on the other hand, may also transfer their savings to other potential alternatives to decrease their tax obligations, as interest on excess contributions would be credited to their income. NPS is a strong choice for pension hunters because of the tax-efficient component and higher returns than PF.
Several users of the State Bank of India (SBI) have been targeted with a phishing scam where hackers have flooded them with suspicious text messages, requesting them to redeem their SBI credit points worth Rs 9,870.
The link associated with the text messages redirects the user to a fake website and on the landing page, the user is asked to submit personal information along with sensitive financial details like card number, expiry date, CVV and Mpin in a ‘State Bank of India Fill Your Details’ form.
According to the investigation by New Delhi-based think tank CyberPeace Foundation along with Autobot Infosec Private Ltd, the website collects data directly without any verification and is registered by a third party instead of having the registrant organisation name of State Bank of India, making it all the more suspicious.
“Moreover, according to SBI, they never communicate with their customers via SMS or emails containing links with regard to the user’s account. Any reputed banking entity also does not use WordPress like CMS technologies on their official website for security reasons,” the foundation said.
The personal information sought on the malicious website is name, registered mobile number, email, email password and date of birth.
After the form is submitted, the user is directed to a “thank you” page.
“The domain name of the website can be traced to India, and the registrant state was found to be Tamil Nadu,” the report mentioned.
According to the report, it was observed that the form takes user inputs without performing basic validation of data type.
For example, the registered mobile number field, which should only accept numerical values also accepts text input. This can also be confirmed from the source code, where the input type for the field is mentioned as ‘text’ instead of ‘number’ or ‘tel’.
“The email password field shows the entered password in clear text instead of keeping the characters hidden. A similar source code observation is noted,” it added.
“The card number field accepts an infinite number of digits instead of only 16 digits, which SBI cards usually have. All these instances of negligence clearly indicate bad coding practice,” the foundation said.
Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh invites E- tender for Annual Maintenance Contract for Garbage lifting and its disposal from MOB, RBI Chandigarh and providing Housekeeping Services at RBI Colonies Sector 16-A, 30-A and 44-B including supply of Bio-degradable garbage bags at all the colonies.
2. The work is estimated to cost ₹. 24,10,000/-. This is an Open Tender. Only those firms, who are registered on MSTC portal will be able to take part in the Tender process. The tender document is available on website www.rbi.org.in and on www.mstcecommerce.com for download from March 02, 2021
3. Tender shall be submitted online in two parts. Part-I of the tender will contain the Bank’s standard technical and commercial conditions for the proposed work, which must be agreed to by the tenderers. Part-II of the tender will contain Bank’s schedule of quantities and tenderer’s price bid to be submitted online.
4. The firms fulfilling the eligibility criteria and desirous of being considered for award of the work should upload all the required documents at www.mstcecommerce.com/eprochome/rbi on or before March 17, 2021 (12.00 Noon)
5. Part-I of the tender will be opened at 12.30 PM on March 17, 2021 on MSTC website.
The timeline of the tender is as follow:
a. e-Tender Name
Annual Maintenance Contract for Garbage lifting and its disposal from MOB, RBI Chandigarh and providing Housekeeping Services at RBI Colonies Sector 16-A, 30-A and 44-B including supply of Bio-degradable garbage bags at all the colonies.
March 09, 2021 (Tuesday) 10.30 am to 11.30 am at Estate Department, 3rd floor, MOB, RBI Chandigarh
f. Last date for submission of e-Tender
March 17, 2021 (Wednesday) up to 12.00 Noon
g. Earnest Money Deposit
₹. 48,200/- in the form of NEFT in favour of Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh Address: Reserve Bank of India, Sector 17, Chandigarh – 160017 Details for NEFT Beneficiary Name: Estate Your Firm’s Name Beneficiary Ac No: 186003001 IFSC: RBIS0CGPA01 (5th and 10th being zero)
i. Date of closing of online e-tender for submission of Techno-Commercial Bid & Price Bid
March 17, 2021 (Wednesday) at 12.00 Noon
j. Date & time of opening of Part-I (i.e. Techno-Commercial Bid)
Date & Time of opening of Part- II (Price Bid)
Part- I will be opened on March 17, 2021 (Wednesday) at 12.30 PM
Part-II May be opened online on the same or a later date.
k. Transaction Fee
As applicable (inclusive of GST @18%) To be paid through MSTC Payment Gateway/NEFT/RTGS in favour of MSTC Limited or as advised by M/s MSTC Ltd. Please do not transfer the transaction fee to Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh
L. Estimated cost of work
₹. 24,10,000/- (Rupees twenty-four lakh ten thousand only)
The Bank is not bound to accept the lowest tender and reserves the right to accept either in full or in part any tender. The Bank also reserves the right to reject all the tenders without assigning any reason thereof.
Regional Director Reserve Bank of India Chandigarh Regional Office
New Delhi: Public-sector lender Canara Bank on Monday said its Executive Director Matam Venkata Rao has been appointed as the new MD & CEO of Central Bank of India. The central government through a gazette notification on February 26, 2021 has appointed Matam Venkata Rao, Executive Director, Canara Bank, as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in Central Bank of India for a period of three years, Canara Bank said in a regulatory filing.
Rao’s appointment in the Central Bank of India will be effective from the date of assumption of office on or after March 1, 2021, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, said the lender.
“He ceases to be the Executive Director of Canara Bank with effect from March 1, 2021,” Canara Bank said.
In May last year, the Banks Board Bureau had recommended Rao to be the new MD & CEO of Central Bank of India.
Rao’s appointment is in lieu of M D Pallav Mohapatra, who retired as the MD & CEO of Central Bank of India on February 28, 2021.
Cryptocurrency is currently directionless in India. The uncertainty has left investors, traders, stock exchanges and also start-ups working in the blockchain space puzzled. The government has formed an inter-ministerial group and there is a talk that the government will ban cryptocurrencies. Experts believe India will lose a big chunk of foreign investments if the government passes the cryptocurrency bill.
Cryptocurrency status in India
India has a total of seven exchanges for crypto trading and more than seven million people have invested in it. Also, around 200-250 startups are working in blockchain associated with the cryptocurrency segment. Currently, digital assets and cryptocurrencies have a global market capitalization of $ 1.5 trillion. People are finding cryptocurrency exciting due to the gigantic returns and also because it is an emerging asset class. But the Reserve Bank of India and the government have clarified that they are not in favour of cryptocurrencies or any private digital currency. But the Supreme Court quashing the RBI appeal have given new hope to cryptocurrencies. While the government is in the process of making a cryptocurrency decision very soon, experts believe India will lose foreign funds if it disallows the new currency.
Uncertainty over the fate of cryptocurrency industry continues as the Government is yet to take a final call on the banning and regulation of cryptocurrency.
Foreign investors
“The foreign investors from the US want to invest in India and not China. And if the government bans crypto, they will not come. This will see India losing large funds. Many other countries have passed cryptocurrency bills. Many countries have already added rules and regulations and allowed the cryptocurrency,” said Sankalp Shangari, an Angel Investor. In India, cryptocurrency stock exchanges have raised $5 million and the startups in this space are gaining interest from investors.
“Some of the largest global brands like Tesla Motors, BNY Mellon or even investors like Tim Draper maintain a portfolio of their wealth in crypto assets. They are also investors in India. If the Indian government takes a positive decision on crypto, FDI by global brands into India will increase. However, if the decision is negative, the same brands will pull out of India and go with countries that have friendly regulations. This will lead to massive job losses for India’s emerging economy and young population,” said, Atul Khekade, Co-founder, XinFin, XDC Network, which is building a platform for global trade finance. Cryptocurrency in other countries
Many countries including the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea have framed regulations around cryptocurrency and allowed it. Foreign investors have pumped in funds in these countries as the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are skyrocketing.
“Finding a balance and fair regulation around crypto-assets can make India’s economy and rupee stronger. It is not the other way. After the Covid catastrophe, the global economy needs more connectedness through digital trust. If one wants to make their country economically stronger, one has to connect to this new layer of trust and not disconnect itself from it. A disconnect from a new form of trust would be disastrous,” Khekade said.
“By banning cryptocurrencies, India may go backwards. We should understand that cryptocurrency and blockchain as technology have made huge progress in the last five years. Maybe even I would have said no to crypto then. But now the world is moving forward and India should stay behind,” Shangari said.
In India, cryptocurrency stock exchanges have raised $5 million and the startups in this space are gaining interest from investors.
Regulations over cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency experts believe that banning cryptocurrency is very easy, but the government should think of regulating it. They also claim that cryptocurrency transactions are very transparent.
“Cryptocurrency transactions can be tracked online since they use blockchain technology, which is very transparent and practical for such usage. There have been various research reports that have data that unlawful activities are still funded through traditional cash. All cryptocurrency transactions can be tracked online. It is practically impossible for unlawful activities to be carried out using cryptocurrencies without getting caught,” Khekade added.
Being a regulator RBI wants to protect the interest of the large audience. The challenge with cryptocurrency is its volatility. It has been rising significantly compared to any asset class. While many have made money, there is always a fear, what if customers lose money.
Sovereign digital currency
“A sovereign digital currency wouldn’t solve India’s problem of sustaining its imports and exports to support India’s population. Digital assets and cryptocurrency technology can be used to act as payment obligation and cover collateral risk for millions of Atmanirbhar MSMEs entrepreneurs so that they can be more competitive in the global marketplace,” Khekade said.
Regulators across different jurisdictions are exploring how a central bank digital currency can be adopted.
Experts believe India already has the best payment system in the world. UPI is widely used by people in India. It is not clear why the government would want conflict with its own very successful system, they say. In terms of applications like global trade and finance, export funding that can support the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, the government should look at working with existing digital asset players and bring them under regulation. A sovereign digital currency wouldn’t solve India’s collateral problem to sustain its imports and exports to support India’s population.
In 1991, India had to physically transport half of India’s gold Reserves Bank of England to provide collateral to cover the risk for India’s import and exports. Digital assets and cryptocurrency technology can be used to act as payment obligation and cover collateral risk for millions of Atmanirbhar MSMEs entrepreneurs so that they can be more competitive in the global marketplace.
The commercial segment has been the need for economic growth and development, and will remain so in coming years as well. The time of lockdown witnessed this sector got hit badly as no commercial activity was taking place. However, this sector, including retail, is recovering faster as people get back to work to keep the wheel of fortune rolling. The sale of commercial properties during the lockdown was an indication that investors and buyers realize the crucial part this sector plays in the well-being of people and the country.
At present, the commercial segment is staring at the increased investment by the NRIs in the present situation arising out of COVID 19. The investment opportunities for the NRIs are now much more flexible because of the depreciation of the rupee. The investors with a knack to invest in real estate diverted their attention towards commercial real estate because it gives them better yield and appreciation; this is why commercial realty attracted the maximum private equity investments in the previous year, totalling nearly USD 3 billion in the first three quarters. Commercial realty includes industrial, retail, and frontier segments such as co-living, will continue to do well because of the good returns in the short and long-term.
A relatively new concept in the commercial segment, which foresees a bright future, is High Street. When everyone is inclined towards the mall concept, the high street brings with itself the old-world charm wrapped in novelty for people’s convenience. The intention is to get the concept that the people already were aware of and grew up seeing. Both high street retail and shopping malls have their utilities and set of dedicated patrons. Elevating urbanization has led to the growth of high street retail. With constraining spaces, high streets are emerging as the places where people meet, greet, and have fun. Looking at the acceptability and popularity of the concept, investors too are showing interest towards it, resulting from foreign brands’ interest in this concept. High streets are considered better than malls as they yield a better rental income and returns. Customers prefer the high street as they get a better brand and in-store experience. The demand is high in Tier 1 and 2 cities. In fact, Noida is becoming the hub of high streets because of better connectivity through metro rail, an excellent road network, and a vibrant residential market.
The segment has been performing exceedingly well riding on the innovative investment options it has come out with. One such option is the investment in pre-leased properties, which is turning out to be a popular form in Noida as the buyer is assured of a settled ROI. The property owners have the advantage of earning a pre-settled rental income and the capital gain on the property that is purchased. Today, both foreign and national investors, UHNIs and HNIs, actively invest in this asset. The most important aspect of investing in commercial property is the location assessment. The proximity to the metro and residential projects promises immense success.
Authored by Sagar Saxena, Project Head, Spectrum Metro
For investment related articles, business news and mutual fund advise
European Union’s Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) has gone into full implementation in this year and European Banking Authority (EBA) has asked National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to take necessary steps for its compliance and implementation. PSD2 norms are aimed towards making Europe into a single payment market and from there on improve customer experience and protection, boost innovation and competition and development of new payment methods and e-commerce.
Further it will bring out new models of business across the financial ecosystem in the form of open banking and leveraging of Application Programming Interface (APIs).
Sam Theodore, Senior Consultant at Scope Group in the ‘The Wide Angle’ report says, “PSD2 is arguably Europe’s most important piece of non-prudential financial regulation for decades.”
These norms are directly challenging the traditional bank-customer value chain (which asymmetrically benefits the bank) as it allows the transfer of customer financial data ownership from banks to their businesses and individual clients through Open APIs. The report adds, “Customers can then freely choose between their existing bank or third-party providers (TPPs) – other banks or authorised non-banks – to carry out their payment instructions. TPPs’ access to accounts (XS2A) occurs solely with customers’ prior agreement, which in effect puts them, not their banks, in the driver’s seat.”
This essentially leads to the implementation of PSD2 norms in play with European Bank’s revenues related to payments and account services. The report cites a McKinsey report which estimates that these revenues are no less than 35% of total bank revenues as compared to 51% from lending and 14% from other products.
Sam says that market participants shall start looking at how European banks adjust to the post PSD2 environment. Further, not only awareness of the top management with respect to PSD2 but also how compliant the bank is with these norms and focus on specific strategy and planning to implement with cloud-based platforms, big data management, use of artificial intelligence and robotics.
Sam adds, “There is often a degree of inertia in how the market investigates new aspects of relevance, which is why those banks with a clear vision of where they want to position themselves in the open-finance world and how to get there should bring up the topic themselves on analyst calls and meetings to try to educate their analysts and investors. For everyone’s benefit.”
Clouds & Platforms
The EU has seen a 79% growth of third party service providers and players including big techs from 237 in 2019 and 410 licensed players in 2020. This growth is fueled by a desire to tap an open market enabled by PSD2 and the rush for digital services due to the Covid-19 pandemic disruptions.
European banks are exploring “build, buy or partner” avenues for the new world at a different pace but for the same goals. One common central element in all of these is migrating activities and operations to cloud native platforms. Top cloud providers have actively partnered with top names amongst European banks and fintechs partnering with incumbent banks to build open APIs.
There are also concerns around viability of smaller players. The report cites the example of the recently launched European Cloud User Coalition (ECUC) with the aim of broadening and facilitating cloud usage by a larger number of peers in various European countries.
The report cites it as a systemic weakness by saying, “the absence of viable European cloud providers to compete against the US and Chinese giants. Both EU governments and banks have all the interest in the world to address this weakness in the not-too-distant future.” Implementation Challenges
PSD2 Implementation was scheduled back in September 2019 but concerns with data security led to EBA putting out a paper through Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on strong consumer authentication (SCA) protocols.
The SCA protocol mandates at least two of three categories from “What you know” (your password or PIN), “what you own” (your device like smartphone or tokens) and “what you are” (biometrics like face recognition or fingerprint).
The idea is now towards moving to biometrics over static passwords or SMSs which are more prone to cyberattacks. The report says, “Cyber-security firm Kaspersky recorded a tripling of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the 12-month period ending in mid-last year.”
As the ecosystem wasn’t prepared for the September 2019 deadline, the compliance was further pushed to January 2021 and a few supplementary months have been added till September 2021 to ease the SCA implementation pressure on pandemic affected smaller merchants.
The report said, “Another initial problem with implementation was the fact that PSD2 did not specify a specific standard format across the EU for setting up open APIs. There were several competing standards, although now those adopted by the so-called Berlin Group (a coalition of EU banks) seem to be prevailing, suggesting smoother sailing ahead.”
Banks have also planned for a review and focus on lessons learned in recent years around security enhancements and looking at better standardisation for APIs across EU.
The report said, “One inherent challenge for regulators involved in these areas is keeping up with the fast advances in technology and rapidly changing industry standards.”
Open Banking in the UK has advanced with more than 2.1 million active open banking users in the UK, as the API call volume increased to six billion in 2020 from only 67 million in 2018.
Citing this growth in the UK, the report states, “There is every reason to believe that open banking will end up being adopted by an increasingly large share of businesses and individuals. This clearly raises the stakes for financial institutions still on the sidelines.”
