RBI Governor Urjit Patel has asked financial services providers to focus on cyber security and reasonableness of customer charges. “While the Reserve Bank will continue to pay focused attention to appropriate enabling regulation, strong infrastructure, apposite supervision and customer centricity, due attention must be paid by operators towards cyber security, effective customer grievance redress arrangements and reasonableness of customer charges,” he said.
“Operators should ensure that no corner is cut regarding cyber security – after all, in a network environment we are only as strong as the weakest link. We owe it to ourselves that we don’t compromise the integrity of the system by individual (in) action – in this context, cost savings should be eschewed,” he said. While unveiling UPI 2.0 version, he said, UPI has the potential for further facilitations.
Some of the possibilities include integration with newer payment systems of the future in view of its standardised formats and structures, capability to integrate with many home grown e-commerce applications that hold substantial potential, emerging innovative delivery channels using the digital mode, and, so on, thus underscoring its (relatively low cost) versatility, he said.
He expressed confidence that products like Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will continue to serve the nation’s aim of bringing all its citizens to the fold of safe digital payments. Pointing that India has been enjoying a very healthy evolution of payment systems, Patel said this has been the result of the calibrated approach adopted by the RBI in the initial years as a developer and in later years as a catalyst and facilitator.
“Today our systems are not only comparable to systems anywhere in the world, but they also set standards and good practices for others to emulate,” it said. Going forward, he said, the RBI will ensure that regulation will foster competition and innovation in the payment space.