Banking sector to see significant reforms in 2022; privatisation, IDBI Bank disinvestment on agenda Pursuant to the government's 4Rs strategy of Recognition, Resolution, Recapitalisation and Reforms, Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of the banking sector have declined to Rs 8,35,051 crore as on March 31, 2021. The banking sector is set to witness significant reforms in the coming year with privatisation of public sector banks and strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank on the agenda of the government for 2022. All said, the emerging coronavirus situation, especially in the wake of the Omicron variant, might pose headwinds in the pace of reforms. Going by the numbers, the banking sector has done reasonably well in 2021, notwithstanding the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Pursuant to the government's 4Rs strategy of Recognition, Resolution, Recapitalisation and Reforms, Non- Performing Assets (NPAs) of the banking sector have declined to Rs 8,35,051 crore as on March 31, 2021. As per the Financial Stability Report (FSR) released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in July2021, macro-stress tests, on the basis of regression modelling, indicate that the Gross NonPerforming Asset (GNPA) ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks, under the baseline scenario, may increase from 7.48 per cent in March 2021 to 9.80 per cent by March 2022. The net profit of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) surged to Rs 14,012 crore in the first quarter and further rose to Rs 17,132 crore in the second quarter ended September 2021. The combined profit (Rs 31,114 crore) of the first half of the current fiscal is close to the total profit earned (Rs 31,820 crore) in the entire previous financial year (2020-21). Similarly, private sector banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank also posted healthy profit with reduction in bad loans. [Source website : bfsi.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 27-12-2021 Banks poised for next round of growth, say CEOs Bank balance sheets are in good shape now, and lenders are ready to participate in the next round of economic growth, said top bankers at the Mint Annual Banking Conclave. Bank chief executives who participated in a panel discussion said the bad loan situation is under control, and banks have set aside adequate funds to cover against future delinquencies. While India’s retail credit growth continues to remain buoyant, the demand for corporate loans—tepid for quite some time now owing to deleveraging—is showing early signs of a pickup. “Ever since the festive season, we are witnessing growth on the corporate side also. The credit-deposit (CD) ratio for all commercial banks, which was at an all-time low, has also started inching up,\" said Dinesh Khara, chairman, State Bank of India (SBI). At India’s largest bank, Khara said, the CD ratio has improved by almost 4% in the last two months. The ratio represents how much of a bank’s deposits have been deployed as loans. “I think the economy and the banking system have gone through quite a bit of turbulence in the past couple of years. We have seen the ups and downs, and in the current situation, I would say that the retail engine has continued to grow all this while for the last 20-22 months,\" he said. According to Khara, the banking system has provided corporate loans very well. Moreover, on capital, all banks are very well capitalized and can support the growth ambitions of the economy, he said. [Source website : livemint.com] Published on : 28-12-2021 MSME, retail loans may see stress rise in coming quarters Banks are more interested in cleaning up their books through sales to asset reconstruction companies Even as corporate bad loans were brought under control, non-performing assets (NPAs) in small-ticket loans to retail and small businesses are likely to rise in the coming quarters, said experts at the Mint Annual Banking Conclave held on 15 December. “In the large corporate sector, things have almost stabilized. Fresh NPAs will be few and far between in the coming years. But covid stress has built up in MSME and retail sectors,\" said Pallav Mohapatra, managing director and CEO, Asset Reconstruction Co. (India) Ltd. “In the case of retail, repayments are dependent on salaries and during covid and lockdowns there were layoffs, salary cuts and at times people were not paid on time. In case of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), their manufacturing activity had stopped and they were not getting workers. If their activity is affected even for 3-4 months, it really impacts cash flows as they do not have other sources to raise money than debt. Banks came out with additional credit lines, and the government with ECLGS scheme. Despite this, some stress will be seen in MSME and retail,\" Mohapatra added. [Source website : livemint.com] Published on : 28-12-2021 50
India's real GDP likely to maintain 9% growth rate in FY22, FY23: Report The Indian economy grew at 8.4 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal, as against a growth of 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter The country's real gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to maintain a 9 pc growth rate in fiscal 2022 and 2023, amid concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19, says a report. The Indian economy grew at 8.4 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal, as against a growth of 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter. \"We are maintaining our forecast of a 9 per cent GDP expansion in FY2022, with a clear K- shaped divergence amongst the formal and informal parts of the economy, and the large gaining at the cost of the small. \"Looking ahead, we expect the economy to maintain a similar 9 per cent growth in FY2023,\" domestic rating agency Icra Ltd Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said in the report. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 29-12-2021 HDFC Bank to hold more fraud awareness workshops at educational institutions In 2020, the bank had conducted over 1,000 workshops at educational institutions, including schools (X-XII students), colleges and universities, reaching out to around 30 lakh individuals. It has taken an ambitious target of organising over 2000 such workshops in the next few months. HDFC Bank has planned to organise more financial fraud awareness workshops at schools, colleges and universities across the country to apprise students of major cyber threats with an aim to build a culture of safe banking digitally.In 2020, the bank had conducted over 1,000 workshops at educational institutions, including schools (X-XII students), colleges and universities, reaching out to around 30 lakh individuals. It has taken an ambitious target of organising over 2000 such workshops in the next few months. “India has witnessed unprecedented growth in digitisation. Today, younger ones at home are helping in ordering food, medicines and other household goods through multiple apps. We want each household to have one evangelist, who can educate his/her family on precautions, hygiene items while doing online financial transaction. Hence, at HDFC Bank, we have decided to spread awareness at school,college and university levels so that the dos and don’ts are ingrained in our next generation from a very early age,” said Manish Agrawal, head — credit Intelligence and control. “Also, with young adults embracing digital payments through UPI, wallets, etc, it is essential to create awareness so that they don’t end up clicking unverified links or share confidential banking information while engaging with various e-learning, gaming, entertainment, delivery apps. We wish to build a culture of safe banking digitally and conducting awareness workshops in schools (standard XI-XII), colleges and universities across the country,” Agrawal told FE in an interview. [Source website : financialexpress.com] Published on : 30-12-2021 51
Banking Technology and Cyber Security 52
Ransomware, fleeceware among top threats of 2021: Avast Avast, a leader in digital security and privacy, said on Wednesday that ransomware, scams taking advantage of pandemic-led new habits and fleeceware were among most prevalent cyberthreats of 2021. Cybercriminals continued to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic, exploiting people’s habits formed during lockdown to spread scams, it said. Ransomware and cryptocurrency malware and scams continued to prevail, and on the mobile side, adware and fleeceware were among the top threats, the company added. “The pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of everyone’s lives, and that includes the cyber world too,” said Michal Salat, director of threat intelligence at Avast. “Attackers' methods are becoming more sophisticated. Cybercriminals are using techniques that make them harder to spot and carry out more personalised cyber attacks. They are also adding new spins on tried and tested techniques, especially in social engineering type of attacks like scams. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 01-12-2021 UIDAI working with World Bank, UN to take Aadhaar technology overseas UIDAI is also looking forward to having more partners from India who can help it in taking the Aadhaar technology overseas. its CEO Saurabh Garg said The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is working with the World Bank and United Nations to replicate the Aadhaar architecture in other countries, a senior official said on Thursday. UIDAI CEO Saurabh Garg also said the authority is forming an advisory board for different sectors for enrolments, authentication, customer relationship management, among others. \"We are working with international organisations like the World Bank and the UN system to see how we can help them, number one, a kind of digital international standard keeping in view the experience of Aadhaar. \"More importantly, how the digital architecture, the Aadhaar architecture can be replicated in other countries,\" Garg said. He was speaking at a virtual event organised by the Payments Council of India. Garg further said UIDAI is looking forward to having more partners from India who can help it in taking the Aadhaar technology overseas. \"In the Aadhaar ecosystem we realised we need to partner with others outside the UIDAI internal system. In the past we had people from the industry. We are forming an advisory board for different sectors for enrolments, updates authentication, customer relationship management, website design...,\" Garg said. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 02-12-2021 Explainer: Neo-banks Vs traditional banking Neo-banks disrupt the banking system by leveraging tech while the traditional banks follow an omni-channel approach What are Neo-banks? Neo-banks are online-only financial technology (fintech) companies that operate solely digitally or via mobile apps. Simply put, neo-banks are digital banks without any physical branches. How are they different from the traditional banks? Neo-banks are disrupting the traditional banking system by leveraging technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer a range of personalised services to customers. On the other hand, traditional banks follow an omni-channel approach i.e. having both physical (through branches and ATMs) and digital banking presence to offer a multitude of products and services. Right from customer acquisition to traditional banking services such as remittances, money transfers, utility payments and personal finance, neo-banks offer a wide range of offerings to customers across retail and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) categories. Typically, neo-banks apply a design thinking approach to a particular banking area and tailor their products and services in a manner that makes banking simpler and convenient to the end consumers. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 02-12-2021 53
Indian banks behind the curve in tapping payments tech: Kotak Indian bankers have been short-sighted on the payments business in the last couple of years as they saw no money in payments, Kotak said. Asserting that Indian banks have been behind the curve in tapping payments technology, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak on Friday said they need to wake up before large parts of the traditional financial markets move out from them. Indian bankers have been short-sighted on the payments business in the last couple of years as they saw no money in payments, Kotak said at Infinity Forum organised by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Bloomberg. As a result, they have allowed the growth of unified payments interface (UPI) payments monopolised by two players, Google Pay and PhonePe which have got 85 per cent market share, he said. Therefore, it’s a wake-up call for Indian banking, he said: “Wake up, you will see large parts of the traditional financial markets move out.” Having said that, he said, “We have to keep in mind that consumer tech companies have revenue models outside of finance. For instance, the advertising model or the e-commerce model. Banks, by law, under Section 6 of the Banking Regulation Act cannot get into non-financial business as defined.” Therefore, there are serious issues about how you are going to draw the lines and simultaneously, there is an issue about financial stability, he said. “I was reading an article which said that when you put a regulated entity into competition with a fintech or a consumer tech, the standard approach of the consumer tech is to play fast and loose on regulation and gain market share at great speed. “I am not against competition. All that I’m saying is we need to make sure that in the name of better competitive service, we don’t have a systemic and a stability challenge at the same time,” he said. [Source website : financialexpress.com] Published on : 03-12-2021 Web 3.0 a $1.1 trn growth opportunity for India: USISPF-CrossTower research Digital assets like Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, etc are the fuel of future financial ecosystem and Web 3.0, report says; CrossTower chief says India's stance on crypto is unfavourable Web 3.0, the idea that the next iteration of the Internet which will be built on concepts of decentralisation, openness, and greater user utility, can help India contribute an additional $1.1 trillion of economic growth to its GDP over the next 11 years, new research from the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and digital currency exchange CrossTower has said. Digital assets like Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Algorand, stablecoins and other blockchains are the fuel of the future financial ecosystem and Web 3.0, the report said. In the first phase of its evolution, the Internet was driven by users consuming information. In the second phase, which is ongoing, users also became contributors with the advent of social media. In Web 2.0, people’s data is owned by large organisations such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon. In Web 3.0, the data is envisaged to be owned by consumers and resides on blockchain networks, as opposed to centralised organizations. “Web 3.0 is turning the world on another way, where instead of that data residing in these centralised databases, it is going to reside on the blockchain technology which is not controlled by one organisation. And with that, my data becomes my choice, (and) which advertiser I want to give it to, and if advertiser is paying Facebook, I should get a piece of that,” said Kapil Rathi, CEO and co- founder of CrossTower. To provide some perspective, in 2013, the market capitalization of the digital asset market was approximately $1.5 billion, and today, the market capitalization is at nearly $3.0 trillion. Comparing the success of the US in the Internet industry, evident in the fact that 17 US firms are among the top 25 major public tech companies by market capitalisation worldwide, the report said India can take a leap in Web 3.0 if it adopts the right kind of policies. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 07-12-2021 54
U.S. bank regulator urges vigilance as ransomware attacks on the rise A top U.S. banking regulator is cautioning firms to ensure they have robust policies to protect themselves from cyberattacks, saying it is seeing an uptick in ransomware attacks, it said in a report issued Monday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said banks must have in place \"robust\" systems to identify threats and vulnerabilities in their technology, and should back up key systems and records in isolation to guard against hackers looking to disrupt systems for a payout. In its semiannual risk report, the OCC also cautioned banks to be vigilant about third-party relationships, noting bad actors are increasingly exploiting outside vulnerabilities to conduct \"malicious cyber activities.\" The OCC also said credit risk remains moderate for banks, as loan portfolios have weathered the pandemic due to good risk management by banks and government relief programs. However, the OCC noted that banks face some challenges helping clients navigate the conclusion of some of those programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program, leaving banks with heightened compliance responsibilities. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 07-12-2021 Digital lending is all set to get a boost A recent RBI report has made a host of valuable suggestions to streamline this fledging sector while protecting borrowers Last year around this time Hyderabad and Bengaluru were rattled by news of unauthorised digital lending apps landing loan defaulters in socially difficult circumstances due to the harassment they faced. Following the suicide of an agriculture department employee of Telangana government in Siddipet and a software engineer in Rajendranagar, Telangana police began registering criminal cases against apps offering instant loans that were harassing defaulters. It was alleged then that these Chinese-promoted mobile applications were actually finance technology companies who had tied up with local non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), to increase their business and book huge profit by charging exorbitant rates of interest. The police authorities had found more than 200 apps which disbursed loans. Their recovery executives harassed and defamed the defaulting borrowers by sending fake notices to all members in the contact list of the victims. As the matter was spinning out of control, the banking regulator moved swiftly and came out with a press release cautioning the members of public “not to fall prey to such unscrupulous activities and verify the antecedents of the company/firm offering loans online or through mobile apps. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 07-12-2021 Microsoft takes control of websites used by China-backed hackers Microsoft has disrupted the activities of a China-based hacking group, gaining control of the malicious websites the group used to attack organisations in the US and 28 other countries around the world. The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) said in a statement that a federal court in Virginia granted its request to seize websites of the hacking group called 'Nickel', enabling the company to cut off Nickel's access to its victims and prevent the websites from being used to execute attacks. \"We believe these attacks were largely being used for intelligence gathering from government agencies, think tanks and human rights organisations,\" said Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security and Trust at Microsoft. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 08-12-2021 55
In pact with NPCI, CUB launches ‘On-the-Go’ wearable keychain for debit card customers The keychain can be requested through net banking, mobile banking, and at CUB’s branches City Union Bank (CUB), in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and its manufacturing partner Seshaasai, has announced the launch of RuPay On-the-Go contactless wearable keychain for its debit card customers. Payments on-the-go Launched by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, on Sunday at New Delhi, CUB is introducing this keychain payment mode to enable customers to make payments on-the-go, according to a statement. The keychain can be requested through net banking, mobile banking, and at CUB’s branches. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 08-12-2021 RBI to have on-device wallets in UPI apps for small-ticket transactions RBI proposed an \"on-device\" wallet in UPI apps aiming to conserve banking systems' resources without changing the transaction experience for the user. As half the transactions on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform are of small value, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought to enable them through an “on-device” wallet in UPI applications. This will help reduce stress on the banking system and make the transaction process even simpler. The RBI has also said it will launch UPI-based digital payment solutions for feature phone users, who are in excess of 440 million. These users have limited access to innovative payment methods and the existing ones have failed to pick up. According to the RBI, 50 per cent transactions through UPI are below Rs 200 and these low-value transactions utilise significant system capacity and resources of the banking system. At times, it leads to customer inconvenience due to transaction failures. “It is, therefore, proposed to offer a simpler process flow by enabling small-value transactions through an “on-device” wallet in the UPI app, which will conserve banks’ system resources, without any change in the transaction experience for the user,” the RBI said. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 08-12-2021 RBI’s new measures: UPI payment product for feature phones Proposes higher limit via UPI in IPOs, retail direct scheme for G-Secs to ₹5 lakh With a view to deepening financial inclusion and promoting the use of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, on Wednesday, announced three new measures, including the launch a UPI-based payment product for feature phone users. “It is proposed to launch UPI-based payment products for feature phone users, leveraging on innovative products from the RBI’s Regulatory Sandbox on Retail Payments,” said Das in the Monetary Policy Statement, noting that UPI is the single- largest retail payment system in the country in terms of volume of transactions. “In the first cohort of RBI Regulatory Sandbox, some innovators had successfully demonstrated their solutions for feature phone payments under the theme of ‘retail payments’. These products, coupled with other complimentary solutions, will facilitate UPI-based digital payment solutions on feature phones to promote wider digitisation,” said the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Activities. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 08-12-2021 56
Pandemic accelerated retail banking innovation, says report However, 57 per cent of respondents still feel their digital investments are yet to deliver as expected: Infosys Financle & EFMA report Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys and the European Financial Management & Marketing Association (EFMA), today unveiled the 13th edition of the annual ‘Innovation in Retail Banking’ report, authored by Jim Marous, publisher of the Digital Banking Report and co-publisher of The Financial Brand. Senior executives from over 1,165 banks and financial services companies worldwide participated in the study. The key inferences in the report state that 14 per cent of the respondents - up from 7 per cent last year - said their organization’s digital transformation had scaled and delivered as expected. Sixty-four per cent of the respondents believe that pandemic has made them substantially more successful at innovation. Overall, more than half the respondents continue to rate their organizations’ digital transformation efforts as insufficient, similar to last year’s report. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents stated that their digital deployment was partial or that digital investments were not delivering as expected. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 08-12-2021 Cryptocurrency cheating cases up from 2 to 54 in yr The suspects claimed to be involved in ‘trading’ various cryptocurrencies and they cheated the complainants by floating various schemes of different cryptocurrencies. The cyber police registered 54 cryptocurrency fraud cases from January to November-end this year, compared to two cases in 2020. The cyber police received three complaint applications against 11 people in the last two weeks of November for cheating the complainants into investing in cryptocurrency. The suspects claimed to be involved in ‘trading’ various cryptocurrencies and they cheated the complainants by floating various schemes of different cryptocurrencies. In the last two weeks, men from Chatushrungi, Sahakarnagar and Deccan areas lodged complaints with the cyber police. One of the victims invested Rs85 lakh with a man, while the other two invested Rs10 lakh and Rs5 lakh, each with another group of men. “Yes, we are receiving more cheating complaints involving cryptocurrencies. People believe that they will earn celestial profits on their investments in cryptocurrencies after hearing about profits obtained by others. Without verifying the credentials of the websites or the persons, people are investing their money and are falling prey to the promises made by the cheaters,” said deputy commissioner of police (cyber) Bhagyashri Navatake. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 13-12-2021 Widely used software with key vulnerability sends cyber defenders scrambling The vulnerability, known as Log4j, comes from a popular open source product that helps software developers track changes in applications that they build. It is so popular and embedded across many companies' programs that security executives expect widespread abuse. A newly discovered vulnerability in a widely used software library is causing mayhem on the internet, forcing cyber defenders to scramble as hackers rush to exploit the weakness. The vulnerability, known as Log4j, comes from a popular open source product that helps software developers track changes in applications that they build. It is so popular and embedded across many companies' programs that security executives expect widespread abuse. \"The Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution Vulnerability is the single biggest, most critical vulnerability of the last decade,\" said Amit Yoran, chief executive of Tenable, a network security firm, and the founding director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. The U.S. government sent a warning to the private sector about the Log4j vulnerability and the looming risk it poses on Friday. In a conference call on Monday, the leader of CISA said it was one of the worst vulnerabilities seen in many years. She urged companies to have staff working through the holidays to battle those using new methods to exploit the flaw. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 14-12-2021 57
Thirty-fold increase in DDoS cyber attacks in India in festive season There has been a 30-fold increase in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyber attacks in India in October, compared to the volume recorded in the previous month, a new report showed on Wednesday. Cyber-security analysts at Tata Communications found that while the attacks started with a few targeted broadband providers in early October, the pattern evolved and by the end of the month, attacks targeted multiple broadband providers simultaneously. Most such attacks were designed to flood an Internet service provider (ISP) network with malicious traffic -- consuming all available bandwidth and rendering the network unavailable to legitimate users. \"A deeper analysis of the data found that these attacks were focused on services that are used extensively during the festive season, including media streaming, Internet phone services and online gaming,\" the findings showed. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 15-12-2021 Is cryptocurrency used for illicit money laundering? There is particular around cryptocurrencies with apprehensions that they are being used for criminal activities like money laundering. India is likely to discuss and finalize \"The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021\" any time soon. According to media reports, the legislation is likely to define cryptocurrency. Some reports even suggest that the Central government is considering a ban in the proposed bill. These are all parts of a concerted effort to regulate cryptocurrency. One of the reasons that a number of proponents take such a stand is that they have an apprehension that cryptocurrencies are being used for criminal activity like money laundering. In fact, Janet Yellen, an American economist, educator and government official, had once stated that cryptocurrencies are “a particular concern” when it comes to criminal activity and terrorist financing. “I think many are used, at least in a transaction sense, mainly for illicit financing. And I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use, and make sure that anti-money laundering doesn't occur through those channels,” she said. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 16-12-2021 Fintech funding soars to $8 b in 2021 Capital influx momentum likely to continue in 2022 as well, say investors Fintechs in India have raked in the moolah in 2021, with at least 11 new unicorns, and late stage funding deals happening at 2 to 5X valuations. Fintech funding has soared 183.39 per cent in 2021 vis-a-vis 2020. As of December 8, according to data from Tracxn, the current calendar year saw $8.02 billion in fintech funding across 363 rounds as compared to $2.83 billion over 296 rounds in 2020. Influx likely to continue Despite Paytm’s lacklustere listing, the momentum of capital influx into the fintech sector is expected to continue in 2022, investors said. “The listing is unlikely to dampen investors’ spirit and outlook for the industry as private market players had expected a tepid response to Paytm listing and had already factored in the scenario,” a source seeking anonymity told BusinessLine. Ashish Sharma, MD & CEO, InnoVen Capital, believes valuations, too, have particularly gone up for growth/late-stage companies, some of which have done two to three funding rounds at significant mark-ups. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 20-12-2021 58
Technology is causing disruptions in banking, says K V Kamath Kamath recognised the great transition done by the banks over the last two years during the pandemic, however, the only issue is about how to compete. Veteran banker K V Kamath on Wednesday exhorted the banking industry to pitch for a level- playing field with technology-driven new age players, saying that the rise of technology has led to disruption in the financial services sector. He said that bankers should make a case with the regulator for a level-playing field and the requirement of regulatory reporting should be extended to new age players. \"We now have a digital mindset at all levels, there is the rise of technology and the bank customers are now receptive to change. New players who are coming up and grabbing and leveraging the opportunity in the banking and financial space. \"As long as you are ring-fenced and protected by the regulator, you have the space to breathe ... now you need to see that you have the level playing field with these new players. It appears from a banker's point of view that the playing field is not level. \"I think it is up to us bankers to make the case with the regulator what is required there to make the level playing field,\" Kamath said while delivering the inaugural address at the 'FICCI-FIBAC 2021' virtual event on Tuesday. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 23-12-2021 Explained: What is tokenisation and why has RBI issued new guidelines? In September 2021, the RBI prohibited merchants from storing customer card details on their servers with effect from January 01, 2022, and mandated the adoption of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation as an alternative to card storage. The Reserve Bank of India has extended the implementation date of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation norms by six months to June 30, 2022. This follows a series of representations from several industry players and digital payment platforms who anticipated disruption in online transactions from January 1 when the new rules were to originally kick in. As per new guidelines, online players will have to delete any credit and debit card data stored on their platforms and replace them with token to secure card details of consumers. While most of the leading banks including SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are ready for the switchover, other stakeholders — mostly merchants — argue that the systems at their backend are not yet ready to adopt the new regime and had sought further time in putting new norms into effect.While extending the guideline, the RBI said that in addition to tokenisation the “industry stakeholders may devise alternate mechanism(s) to handle any use case (including recurring e-mandates, EMI option, etc.) or post-transaction activity (including chargeback handling, dispute resolution, reward/ loyalty programme, etc.) that currently involves/requires storage of CoF data by entities other than card issuers and card networks.” What is tokenisation and why has RBI issued new guidelines? In September 2021, the RBI prohibited merchants from storing customer card details on their servers with effect from January 01, 2022, and mandated the adoption of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation as an alternative to card storage. It applies to domestic, online purchases. Tokenisation refers to replacement of actual credit and debit card details with an alternate code called the “token”, which will be unique for a combination of card, token requestor and device. A tokenised card transaction is considered safer as the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during transaction processing. Customers who do not have the tokenisation facility will have to key in their name, 16-digit card number, expiry date and CVV each time they order something online. This could be cumbersome exercise and may impact transaction value, especially when done through stored cards. In case of multiple cards, each will have to be tokenised. [Source website : indianexpress.com] Published on : 24-12-2021 59
SBI Foundation, Social Alpha launch a challenge to support assistive technology start-ups SBI Foundation, the CSR arm of State Bank of India, and Social Alpha have jointly launched the challenge, ‘Techtonic: Innovations in Assistive Technology’, inviting innovators and entrepreneurs working on products and services that address the difficulties faced by people with disabilities and enable them to lead an empowered life. The programme will extend support to 10 start-ups towards accelerating their lab-to-market journey. Out of these 10, the top 4 start-ups will receive ₹15 lakh along with incubation support for 1 year. Social Alpha is a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform for science and technology start-ups. Manjula Kalyansundaram, Managing Director & CEO, SBI Foundation told BusinessLine that the mission of the programme was to create an inclusive environment for persons with disabilities. The initiative will seek to ensure that assistive tech solutions are sustained and scaled up across India, she said. It will encourage next generation of innovators to engage in much needed R&D of assistive technology, she added. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 24-12-2021 Google's fight with Joker continues, another app 'deleted' Research company Pradeo recently wrote in a blog post that a mobile application called Color Message infected with Joker malware is currently available for download on Google Play and was installed by more than half a million users. Here's another 'Joker warning' for Android smartphone users. One of the mostpersistent malware (type of virus) found in Android smartphones has been detected in another app that has been downloaded 500,000-plus times on Google Play Store. Research company Pradeo recently wrote in a blog post that a mobile application called Color Message infected with Joker malware is currently available for download on Google Play and was installed by more than half a million users. Google has since removed the app. Android smartphone users need to note that Google removing the app from Google Play Store means that it will no longer be able to trap new users. However, the users who have already downloaded the app need to remove it on their own from their phones. Google removing it from Play Store does not mean that the app will go away from the 500,000-plus devices where it has been downloaded [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 27-12-2021 Hackers use AnyDesk in safe mode to launch attacks: Report Sophos, a global leader in cybersecurity, on Monday revealed that hackers attempted to bypass security controls by using a combination of Windows Safe Mode and the AnyDesk remote administration tool. Windows Safe Mode is an IT support method for resolving IT issues that disables most security and IT administration tools, while AnyDesk provides continuous remote access. \"Sophos discovered that the AvosLocker attackers installed AnyDesk so it works in Safe Mode, tried to disable the components of security solutions that run in Safe Mode, and then ran the ransomware in Safe Mode. This creates a scenario where the attackers have full remote control over every machine they've set up with AnyDesk, while the target organization is likely locked out of remote access to those computers. Sophos has never seen some of these components used with ransomware, and certainly not together,\" Peter Mackenzie, director of incident response at Sophos, said in a statement. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 28-12-2021 60
Kaspersky and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERTIn) continue their strategic partnership for improving mutual Cyber-Security Capabilities The collaboration between global cybersecurity and data protection leader Kaspersky and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India facilitates the cooperation in areas of common interest such as the fulfilment of the cyber security policies, strengthening protection of India's cyberspace and other relevant initiatives. CERT-In is the national nodal agency designated under Section 70B of Information Technology (IT) Act 2000 (Amendment 2008) for dealing with cybersecurity incident response, detection and mitigation of cyber security incidents, create awareness and develop cyber security capabilities among its stakeholders, issuing of advisories, guidelines and promoting best practices among Indian cyber community. The Kaspersky and CERT-In collaboration is aimed at helping the agency to understand, identify, and reduce the occurrence of various cyberattacks in the country. Cyberattacks on banking and financial institutions and enterprises are evolving continuously. Attackers are targeting financial institutions by using advanced and sophisticated techniques for intruding banking IT infrastructures. In order to give a boost to the cybersecurity skills and escalate the cyber maturity of the banking and financial services sector, Kaspersky in association with CERT-In conducted an interactive simulation-based training workshop for government, public, private organizations belonging to the financial sector in India on October 28, 2021 as part of the activities during cyber security awareness month, October 2021. Senior- level officials, decision-makers and managerial level officers from various government, public and private sector organizations in financial sector in India attended the training. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 30-12-2021 Crypto bourses can’t get cover for cyber risks In the absence of regulation, cryptocurrency exchanges in India are not being able to get insurance protection against cyber risks like ransomware attacks and business interruption. This is primarily because the RBI, which places a higher risk for the insurance underwriter, does not recognise cryptocurrencies. A senior executive at Future Generali India Insurance said that insured loss can be settled only in rupee and dollar — the currencies in which cyber insurance claims are settled. Insurers said that they can come up with a definition of insured loss for this segment only after a law on cryptocurrency is introduced. In ransomware attacks, hackers typically demand ransom in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Insurers pay out 50-60% of the premium they collect through cyber risks as claims. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 30-12-2021 Pvt cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection, prone to frauds: RBI Longer-term concerns relate to capital flow management, financial and macro-economic stability, monetary policy transmission and currency substitution Private cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection and are prone to frauds and extreme price volatility, given their highly speculative nature, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its financial stability report released on Wednesday. The latest report noted that the proliferation of private cryptocurrencies across the globe has sensitised regulators and governments to the associated risks. “Private cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection and anti-money laundering (AML)/combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). They are also prone to frauds and to extreme price volatility, given their highly speculative nature,” it said. Reduced transparency : Longer-term concerns relate to capital flow management, financial and macro-economic stability, monetary policy transmission and currency substitution, it said. [Source website : thehindubusinessline.com] Published on : 30-12-2021 61
This dangerous WhatsApp scam can access your personal and financial details A dangerous WhatsApp scam known as Rediroff.ru has been in circulation for the past few days now. With the phishing scam, fraudsters can access your personal and financial information, including bank and card details, by using social engineering methods. The phishing link can invade Windows PC as well as Android and iOS smartphones. Although it is not yet known when the scam was first reported, it has reached a larger audience during the Christmas season as it lures victims with promise of expensive Chirstmas gifts. Fraudsters first send a link to victims on WhatsApp. Once a user visits the link, the webpage claims that the user has a chance to win a reward by simply taking an anonymous survey. After users answer the questions in the survey, they are redirected to a different website where they are asked to fill out their information. The information asked by the website includes name, age, address, bank details and other personal data. The details that you provide can be used to make fraudulent transactions or it can be sold to criminals on the dark web. [Source website : ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com] Published on : 31-12-2021 The year of the Doge? 2021 was cryptocurrency's wildest year yet Dogecoin, launched in 2013 as a bitcoin spinoff, soared over 12,000 per cent to an all-time high in May before slumping almost 80 per cent by mid-December Bitcoin close to $70,000, “memecoins” worth billions of dollars, a blockbuster Wall Street listing and a sweeping Chinese crackdown: 2021 was the wildest yet for cryptocurrencies, even by the sector’s volatile standards. Here is a look at some of the major trends that dominated cryptocurrencies this year. Bitcoin: Still no.1 : The original cryptocurrency held its crown as the biggest and most well-known token —though not without a host of challengers biting at its heels. Bitcoin soared over 120 per cent from January 1 to a then-record of almost $65,000 in mid-April. Fuelling it was a tsunami of cash from institutional investors, growing acceptance by major corporations such as Tesla and Mastercard and an increasing embrace by Wall Street banks. Spurring investor interest was Bitcoin’s purported inflation-proof qualities — it has a capped supply — as record-breaking stimulus packages fuelled rising prices. Yet the token stayed volatile. It slumped 35 per cent in May before soaring to a new all-time high of $69,000 in November. [Source website : business-standard.com] Published on : 31-12-2021 62
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