RBI bans credit card companies American Express, Dinners Club from on-boarding new domestic customers from May 1

Biznextindia : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday banned two international credit card companies- American Express Banking Corp and Dinners Club International Ltd from on-boarding new domestic customers onto their card networks from May 1, 2021 for non-compliance of the central banks order to store payment data in India.

The supervisory action has been taken in exercise of powers vested in RBI under Section 17 of the PSS Act.

“These entities have been found non-compliant with the directions on Storage of Payment System Data. This order will not impact existing customers.  American Express Banking Corp. and Diners Club International Ltd. are Payment System Operators authorised to operate Card Networks in the country under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act)” said RBI in a statement.

On April 6, 2018, RBI had issued a circular directing all Payment System Providers to store their entire data relating to payment systems operated by them in a system in India within six months. The types of data includes full end-to-end transaction details, information collected, carried, processed as part of the message, payment instruction etc. RBI had also directed them to report compliance to it and submit a Board-approved System Audit Report (SAR) conducted by a CERT-In empanelled auditor within a specified timeline.