The Reserve Bank of India has decided to permit videobased KYC (Know Your Customer) as an option to establish a customer’s identity.
For banks, non-banking financial companies, wallet service providers and other financial entities regulated by the central bank, this is expected to come as a huge relief as remote customer authentication, as opposed to physically onboarding customers, will help save costs.
“…with a view to leverage the digital channels for Customer Identification Process (CIP) by Regulated Entities (REs), the RBI has decided to permit Video-based Customer Identification Process (VCIP) as a consent-based alternate method of establishing the customer’s identity, for customer onboarding,” the RBI notification amending the master KYC directions noted on Thursday.
The provision allows an officer of the financial institution to remotely vet a customer’s identity through PAN or Aadhaar cards and a series of questions. The agent will also have to ensure that the customer is physically present within the country by capturing their geo-coordinates.
Further, the origin of the video call must be from the domain of the concerned bank and not from a third-party source such as Google Duo or WhatsApp video call. Experts said banks will have to integrate their applications and website with a link to initiate the video KYC process.
“The audiovisual interaction shall be triggered from the domain of the RE itself, and not from third-party service provider if any. The VCIP process shall be operated by officials specifically trained for this purpose,” the notification said.
SOURCE: bit.ly/304rKZ4