After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered Bank of Baroda (BoB) to suspend further customer onboarding on its ‘bob World’ mobile app, the public sector lender said that the further onboarding of customers on the ‘bob World’ application will be subject to further strengthening of related processes by the Bank to the satisfaction of RBI.
“While the Bank has already carried out corrective measures to address the concerns of the RBI, we have initiated further steps to plug any remaining gaps identified and we will work closely with the RBI to address their concerns at the earliest to their satisfaction,” it said in a regulatory filing.
The central bank had also directed the PSU to ensure that already onboarded ‘bob World’ customers do not face any disruption on account of the suspension. “This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of their customers onto this mobile application. 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 RBI had said in a circular released on October 10.
Bank of Baroda stated, “We would also like to assure all our existing customers that they will not face any disruption whatsoever and will continue to enjoy uninterrupted services on the Bank’s bob World mobile app. Further, this order does not impact any of the Bank’s other digital banking channels such as net banking, WhatsApp banking, debit cards, ATMs, etc. for servicing its existing customers as well as for onboarding of new customers.”
The bank reassured its customers that its mobile banking application is fully secure with robust security controls and features. “The Bank has always endeavoured to provide seamless digital banking services to its customers and over the last few years, the Bank has made significant investments in technology, which provides customers with a seamless and secure banking experience, with robust controls and security features,” it said while adding that the action is not expected to have any material impact on the Bank’s overall business and growth plans.
Meanwhile, on October 9, Bank of Baroda had announced a hike in interest rates on fixed deposit rates by up to 50 basis points (bps) across various tenors for up to three years.
Earlier in August, Bank of Baroda posted net profit growth of 88 per cent on-year in April-June quarter owing to a growth in its net interest income. The public sector bank posted a bottomline of Rs 4,070 crore in the quarter under review. The net profit was lower than Rs 4,775 crore in the March quarter. Net interest income rose 24.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,997 crore in the quarter under review.