The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed penalties on three payment system operators for deficiencies in regulatory compliance.
These include Visa Worldwide, Ola Financial Services and Manappuram Finance.
A penalty of Rs 2.4 crore has been imposed on Visa Worldwide Pte Limited and Rs 41.5 lakh on Manappuram Finance Limited. While a fine of Rs 87.55 lakh has been slapped on Ola Financial Services in two cases.
The above actions have been taken in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 30 and Section 31 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 and are based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and are not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the entity with its customers, the central bank said.
RBI said it was observed that Visa Worldwide Pte Limited had implemented a payment authentication solution without regulatory clearance from the central bank.
Notice was issued to it, advising it to show cause as to why a penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with the directions.
Visa Worldwide, in its response, had filed an application for compounding of the violation.
After analysing the compounding application and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, the RBI determined that the contravention could be compounded.
Manappuram Finance Limited and Ola Financial Services were non-compliant with the directions issued by the RBI on KYC requirements, it said.
Further, Ola Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. 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.
