digital banking units: Association of Indian Banks bullish on July rollout of digital banking units

The Digital Banking Units (DBUs), proposed in this year’s Union budget, will be ready by July and will help advance the cause of financial inclusion when rolled out, chief executive tells ET of the Association of Indian Banks, Sunil Mehta. “The progress of the pilot implementation of the project is regularly monitored by the committee of the reserve,” he said.

All public sector banks, 10 private sector banks and one small financial bank have already started work to have these units operational by July 2022.

Last month, the RBI issued guidelines allowing regular commercial banks to open DBUs. According to the circular, DBUs will be specialized fixed-point business units for the provision of digital banking products and services, as well as for the digital management of existing financial products and services.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed to establish 75 DBUs in 75 districts across India through regular commercial banks.

Banks and due diligence issues

Mehta noted that under the recently concluded PSB Manthan, lenders have agreed to share their best practices while seeking innovative solutions. “It will further strengthen public banks,” he said.

On undue scrutiny from vigilance agencies on business decisions made by bankers, Mehta said the Advisory Board on Banking and Financial Fraud (ABBFF) is a good initiative as it acts as a safety valve and bankers are protected. against undue harassment.

“Going forward, we expect that investigative agencies, including the police, will respect the decisions of this advisory board and that bankers’ business decisions will therefore not be interpreted as fraud,” he said. -he declares.

In August 2019, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in consultation with RBI, had constituted a four-member ABBFF headed by former banker and former Vigilance Commissioner TM Bhasin to investigate 50 crore bank and financial frauds ₹ and above.