RBI lifts restrictions on adding customers on Bank of Baroda’s mobile app

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday lifted restrictions imposed on Bank of Baroda (BoB) in October last year, allowing the public sector lender to onboard customers to its mobile banking app, bob World.

“We wish to inform that the RBI, vide its letter dated 8 May 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 bob World application in accordance with the applicable guidelines and extant laws, regulations,” the lender said in a regulatory filing.

The bank will now resume onboarding new customers to the bob World application and “remains committed to ensure adherence and compliance of regulatory guidelines”.

In October last year, the RBI, under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, had barred the bank from onboarding new customers on its bob World mobile app due to certain “material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding customers onto this mobile application.”

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“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. The bank has been further directed to ensure that already onboarded ‘bob World’ customers do not face any disruption on account of this suspension,” RBI had said in a press release last October.

Before the ban, the app handled 7.95 million financial and non-financial transactions daily, according to data as on 30 September 2023. This number came down to 7.19 million as of 31 December, as per the bank’s analyst presentation. Between the end of 2021-22 and 2022-23, bob World’s activated user base shot up 53%, Mint had reported on 15 November.

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