Paytm Payments Bank Ltd Stops Onboarding New Customers With Immediate Effect

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop onboarding new customers with immediate effect.

Further, the RBI will also conduct a comprehensive audit of its IT system, citing "material supervisory concerns".

However, onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank will be subject to specific permission to be granted by RBI after reviewing reports of the IT auditors.

"The RBI has, today, in the exercise of its powers, inter alia, under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directed Paytm Payments Bank to stop, with immediate effect, onboarding of new customers," it said. The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive System Audit of its IT system, the RBI said.

"This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank," the central bank. Paytm Payments Bank got approval from the RBI in 2017.

For the year ended March 31, 2021, Paytm Payments Bank, which has the largest scale among all payment banks, had recorded a net profit of Rs 17.88 crore on sales of Rs 1,987.84 crore, according to Paytm's IPO prospectus. One97 Communications owns 49 per cent equity interest in Paytm Payments Bank, while the rest 51 per cent is owned by Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

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