“The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has further informed that the Paytm Payments Bank Limited has not yet appointed the IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive System Audit of the IT system of the bank,” Karad said.
The RBI on March 11 barred SoftBank-backed Paytm Payments Bank from adding new customers due to likely gaps in its technology systems.
“Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after reviewing (the) report of the IT auditors,” the central bank said in a statement.
On March 14, ETtech reported that the
central bank would set the terms of reference for an independent technology audit of Paytm Payments Bank after the regulator banned the onboarding of new customers.
However, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma denied a media report that alleged data sharing with Chinese entities may have led to the regulatory curbs.
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“I want to inform and confirm that in various observations RBI has shared with Paytm Payments Bank, there is absolutely no reference to
any data sharing or servers being outside or data sharing with any unauthorized personnel national or international–any country whatsoever,” Sharma said, denying a Bloomberg report that said data sharing with Chinese entities was the primary reason behind the central bank action.
Paytm Payments Bank joins a swelling list of financial companies and lenders, such as Mastercard, Diners Club, American Express and HDFC Bank, that have been penalised for systemic glitches. The banking regulator is keen on building a failsafe payments system in India where transactions are being increasingly done digitally.
