The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday lifted the curbs on BoB World, the mobile application of Bank of Baroda, with immediate effect, the bank said in a notification to the exchanges.
As a result, the bank will be able to onboard customers through the mobile application.
“We wish to inform that the RBI, via its letter dated May 8, 2024, conveyed to the bank its decision to lift the above-mentioned restrictions on BoB World with immediate effect. As such, the bank is free to onboard customers through the BoB World application in accordance with the applicable guidelines and extant laws/regulations,” the exchange filing said.
“The bank remains committed to ensuring adherence to and compliance with regulatory guidelines,” the lender said.
In October last year, the RBI directed the lender not to onboard customers through this mobile app due to certain supervisory concerns regarding how customers were being onboarded to the application.
The move likely impacted the bank’s incremental retail business sourced through the digital platform. About 98 per cent of savings accounts and 91 per cent of current accounts were sourced digitally in the first quarter of FY24. About 43 per cent of time deposits and 74 per cent of retail advances are sourced through the BoB World application, according to analysts.
Following the curbs, the bank had significantly scaled up other channels for customer acquisition.
“BoB World is only one of the channels; we have significantly scaled up the other channels for acquiring customers. The other channels can be multiple, in terms of tab banking and branch banking,” the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) Debadatta Chand told analysts after the Q3 results, while adding that the bank expected the curbs to be revoked at the earliest.
First Published: May 08 2024 | 8:05 PM IST
