RBI to establish cloud facility for financial sector data

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on establishing a cloud facility for the financial sector in India. The proposed facility would enhance the security, integrity and privacy of financial sector data.

“Banks and financial entities are maintaining an ever-increasing volume of data. Many of them are utilising various public and private cloud facilities for this purpose,” RBI said, adding that such a facility is also expected to facilitate scalability and business continuity.

The cloud facility will be set up and initially operated by Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBI. Eventually, the facility will be transferred to a separate entity owned by financial sector participants.

RBI to set up fintech repository for better ecosystem tracking

This cloud facility is intended to be rolled out in a calibrated fashion in the medium term, the central bank said.

“RBI’s announcement of a financial sector cloud service is exciting from a techno-regulatory perspective. The cloud service could effectively help centralise data/ services hosting for financial institutions,” said Rajat Deshpande, CEO and Co-founder, FinBox.

RBI to introduce regulatory framework for loan aggregation services 

“Effectively, it implies that at some point, banks, NBFCs, and other participants might be nudged to store their data on this cloud, rather than on third-party services that are currently in vogue. This might help financial institutions access a cloud facility that ensures data security, integrity, and automatic compliance with the relevant regulatory guidelines.”