MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India on Friday imposed monetary penalties on Ola Financial Services and Manappuram Finance for non-compliance of KYC norms. It has imposed a fine on Visa Worldwide Pte ltd for non-compliance of directions.
Two separate fines were imposed on Ola Financial Services, one amounting to Rs 33.40 lakhs for failing to comply with directions provided under the Know Your Customer (KYC) directions. The second fine of Rs 54.15 lakh was imposed for deficiencies in regulatory compliance provided under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
A fine of Rs 41.50 lakh was imposed on Manappuram Finance.
Manappuram Finance Limited and Ola Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
“Both (Ola & Manappuram) the entities were non-compliant with the directions issued by RBI on KYC requirements,” the regulator stated in a press release.
The regulator also said that Ola Financial Services had also reported instances of shortfall in the balance in its escrow account and filed an application for compounding of the violation.
“After analysing the compounding application and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI determined that the aforementioned contravention can be compounded,” RBI said.
A fine of Rs 2.4 crore was levied on Visa. It was observed that Visa had implemented a payment authentication solution without regulatory clearance from RBI.
RBI also said that compounding orders were issued to Ola Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. and Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited, for contravention of certain provisions contained in the Master Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and Card Not Present transactions.
Visa said it remains committed to follow rules laid down by the regulator.
“Visa respects and abides by the compliance guidelines, regulations and local laws across the countries we operate in,” a Visa spokesperson said. “We duly acknowledge the RBI order and remain committed to following RBI guidelines and regulations to continue providing safe and secure payment solutions in India.”
