The Reserve Bank of India has restricted Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Mastercard) from onboarding new domestic customers onto its card network from July 22, 2021. The RBI took this decision after finding Mastercard was not complying with the Storage of Payment System Data, the central bank said on Wednesday (July 14, 2021).
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has today imposed restrictions on Mastercard Asia / Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Mastercard) from on-boarding new domestic customers (debit, credit or prepaid) onto its card network from July 22, 2021,” RBI said in a release.
“Notwithstanding lapse of considerable time and adequate opportunities being given, the entity has been found to be non-compliant with the directions on Storage of Payment System Data,” it added.
No impact on existing Debit, Credit Card users
The central bank said its order will not impact the existing customers of Mastercard. The RBI also said that Mastercard should advise all card-issuing banks and non-banks to conform to its directions.
“This order will not impact existing customers of Mastercard. Mastercard shall advise all card-issuing banks and non-banks to conform to these directions,” RBI said.
The release further said that the supervisory action was taken in the exercise of powers vested in RBI under Section 17 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act).
Mastercard is a Payment System Operator authorised to operate a Card Network in the country under the PSS Act.
Through RBI circular on Storage of Payment System Data dated April 6, 2018, all system providers were directed to ensure that “within a period of six months the entire data (full end-to-end transaction details/information collected/carried/processed as part of the message/payment instruction) relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India. They were also required to report compliance to RBI and submit a Board-approved System Audit Report conducted by a CERT-In empanelled auditor within the timelines specified therein.”
