“The bank has been further directed to ensure that already onboarded ‘bob World’ customers do not face any disruption on account of this suspension,” said the RBI in a press release dated October 10, 2023.
Why has the RBI suspended onboarding of customers onto ‘bob World’?
“This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of their customers onto this mobile application,” said the RBI press release.
What does BoB have to do now to fix the issue?
The RBI has said that further onboarding of customers of BoB on the ‘bob World’ can only be made if BoB has fixed the deficiencies noticed by the regulator (RBI).
“Any further onboarding of customers of the bank on the ‘bob World’ application will be subject to rectification of the deficiencies observed and strengthening of the related processes by the bank to the satisfaction of RBI,” said the RBI.
Similar move earlier in case of HDFC bank
In a similar move earlier, the RBI had barred HDFC Bank from launching new digital banking initiatives and issuing new credit cards on December 2, 2020. The restrictions were imposed on the bank due to multiple glitches in the bank’s internet and mobile banking systems over the past two years, as per media reports.At the time of imposing the restrictions, RBI said it would relax on norms only when the bank manages to address the issue of glitches in its online banking systems. As per a media report, HDFC Bank had added 1 lakh new credit card customers every month between April and November, 2020, following which it was banned. RBI lifted the ban in March 2022.