Reliance Jio financials in talk with Paytm to acquire .....

[tollywood_hater]

Arey Modi thatha , janalu Sanka naakipoyina parvaleee , mana vadu bagundali antav ..... Endhuku raa intha Racha create chesi final gaa ambaniki ammeyadanikaa , papam small share holders Sanka naaki poyaru kadha raa

[hunkyfunky2]

15 minutes ago, tollywood_hater said:

Arey Modi thatha , janalu Sanka naakipoyina parvaleee , mana vadu bagundali antav ..... Endhuku raa intha Racha create chesi final gaa ambaniki ammeyadanikaa , papam small share holders Sanka naaki poyaru kadha raa

Anthega...

Reliance didn't have a foot in the digital payments market, so he gifted one.

 

Just like he gifted airports, coal contracts and fighter jet maintenance to Adani. 

[Spartan]

Series of Lapses at Paytm Payments Bank, History of Non-Compliance

 

 

Strike One

 

The roots of the crackdown can be traced back to the early days of PPBL, which secured a banking licence in January 2017. Despite its promising start following the demonetisation of 2016, the bank faced its first regulatory strike within a year of operation. Violations of licensing conditions, including breaches of day-end balances and non-compliance with know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines, prompted the RBI to temporarily halt the opening of new accounts in June 2018, CNBC-TV18 has learnt from various sources that are in the know of the matter.

 

However, this ban was lifted by December of 2018, based on the compliance submitted and undertaking provided by the bank.

 

Strike Two

 

The second blow landed in October 2021 when the RBI uncovered that PPBL had submitted false information, which led to the latter levying a fine of ₹1 crore.

 

“On examination of PPBL’s application for issue of final Certificate of Authorisation (CoA), it was observed that PPBL had submitted information which did not reflect the factual position… RBI determined that the aforementioned charge was substantiated and warranted the imposition of a monetary penalty,” RBI had said in a notification on October 20, 2021.

 

Strike Three

 

Subsequent investigations unearthed concerning lapses in technology, cybersecurity, and KYC anti-money laundering compliance in the later part of 2021. Even as these concerns remained, RBI’s inspection revealed that there was no separation in servers or physical space occupied by the bank and other One 97 group entities, sources said.

 

This prompted RBI to impose supervisory restriction on PPBL in March 2022, directing the bank to stop onboarding new customers with immediate effect and to appoint an external audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit.

 

“Reserve Bank of India has today, in exercise of its powers, inter alia, under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directed Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop, with immediate effect, onboarding of new customers. The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its IT system. Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by RBI after reviewing report of the IT auditors. This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank,” the RBI had said in a notification on March 11, 2022.

 

Strike Four

 

After the system auditor’s report was available in the later part of 2022, RBI found that there was no serious action was visible on part of the bank to take necessary corrective actions.

 

By October 2023, the RBI imposed a monetary penalty of ₹5.39 crore for continued non-compliance with KYC norms, signaling the fourth strike against PPBL. The regulator cited failures in identifying beneficial owners, monitoring payout transactions, breaching regulatory ceilings, delayed reporting of cybersecurity incidents, and lapses in video-based customer identification process (V-CIP), among other concerns.

 

Serious KYC AML violations, diigital frauds, money laundering risks

 

“There are major irregularities in KYC, which expose the customers, depositors and wallet holders to serious risk,” said a person directly in know of the matter. These included absence of KYC for a  large number of customers, running into lakhs, PAN validation failures in lakhs of accounts, the source said.

 

The RBI found that in thousands of cases the same PAN was linked to more than 100 customers and in some cases for more than 1,000 customers. The total value of transactions in some accounts ran into crores of rupees, much beyond regulatory limits in minimum KYC pre-paid instruments raising money laundering concerns, the source added.

 

 

The regulator also found an unusually high number of dormant accounts which are prone to have been used as mule accounts. “Out of about 35 crore wallet accounts Paytm maintains, RBI found as many as 31 crore being inoperative,” said another person directly in the know.

 

There were also concerns relating to money laundering arising from deficiencies in the KYC processes and lack of transaction monitoring system of the bank. In lakhs of cases, for instance, the accounts and wallets were found to have been frozen by various law enforcement authorities across the country, as such accounts were used for committing digital frauds, CNBC-TV18 has learnt.

 

To be clear, Paytm’s customer accounts are under scrutiny due to weak regulatory compliance leaving them prone to misuse, but there are no allegations or regulatory concerns relating to the company or its founder having indulged in any money laundering activities.

 

Arm’s length not maintained in dealing with Promoter Group Entities

 

Adding to the gravity of the situation, the RBI found co-mingling of the group's financial and non-financial businesses with its promoter group companies, violating licensing conditions and RBI directives. The PPBL's dependence on the IT infrastructure of its parent entity, One 97 Communications Limited (OCL), raised concerns about data privacy and sharing, CNBC-TV18 has learnt.

 

“PPBL’s dependence on the IT infrastructure of OCL remained absolute and there was no operational segregation. Many transactions were routed through the parent entity-owned apps,” said one of the people quoted earlier.

 

One97 Communications owns a significant 49% stake in Paytm Payments Bank, with the remaining 51 percent held by Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Regulatory concerns have been raised over the perceived lack of separation between these entities, that may have caused some money and data to flow between them even when such exchanges should be restricted.

 

Lack of transparency from promoters

 

What made matters worse was a pattern of non-transparency from the promoters of the bank, which added to the regulator’s concerns about the PPBL. “On several occasions, the compliance submitted by the bank was found to be false upon verification, both by the RBI supervisors and external auditors,” a person in the know said.

 

The RBI observed that the Paytm Payments Bank’s payables to its parent entity OCL, which were substantial, were often not disclosed in the financial statements of the bank. “Agreements were often being revised to benefit the OCL or its group companies, and apparently detrimental to the bank and its clients,” added the person quoted earlier.

 

“Paytm Bank is dealing in public money,” said another person directly in know of the matter, adding “The RBI action is to prevent the payment bank being run in a manner detrimental to the interest of its depositors, customers and other genuine stakeholders.”

 

Paytm’s response

 

In response to CNBC-TV18’s detailed questionnaire listing all of these concerns flagged by the regulator seeking the bank’s response, Paytm said it acknowledged the recent RBI directive regarding Paytm Payments Bank and was taking this very seriously, without giving any further details on the questions raised.

 

[JaiBalayyaaa]

39 minutes ago, tollywood_hater said:

Arey Modi thatha , janalu Sanka naakipoyina parvaleee , mana vadu bagundali antav ..... Endhuku raa intha Racha create chesi final gaa ambaniki ammeyadanikaa , papam small share holders Sanka naaki poyaru kadha raa

Paytm gadi problem is getting Chinese investment

[Spartan]

1 hour ago, JaiBalayyaaa said:

Paytm gadi problem is getting Chinese investment

Compliance failure and no transparency on laundering..

fake accounts ekkuva chupinchi run chesaru anta...

[Ara_Tenkai]

3 hours ago, Spartan said:

Series of Lapses at Paytm Payments Bank, History of Non-Compliance

 

 

Strike One

 

The roots of the crackdown can be traced back to the early days of PPBL, which secured a banking licence in January 2017. Despite its promising start following the demonetisation of 2016, the bank faced its first regulatory strike within a year of operation. Violations of licensing conditions, including breaches of day-end balances and non-compliance with know-your-customer (KYC) guidelines, prompted the RBI to temporarily halt the opening of new accounts in June 2018, CNBC-TV18 has learnt from various sources that are in the know of the matter.

 

However, this ban was lifted by December of 2018, based on the compliance submitted and undertaking provided by the bank.

 

Strike Two

 

The second blow landed in October 2021 when the RBI uncovered that PPBL had submitted false information, which led to the latter levying a fine of ₹1 crore.

 

“On examination of PPBL’s application for issue of final Certificate of Authorisation (CoA), it was observed that PPBL had submitted information which did not reflect the factual position… RBI determined that the aforementioned charge was substantiated and warranted the imposition of a monetary penalty,” RBI had said in a notification on October 20, 2021.

 

Strike Three

 

Subsequent investigations unearthed concerning lapses in technology, cybersecurity, and KYC anti-money laundering compliance in the later part of 2021. Even as these concerns remained, RBI’s inspection revealed that there was no separation in servers or physical space occupied by the bank and other One 97 group entities, sources said.

 

This prompted RBI to impose supervisory restriction on PPBL in March 2022, directing the bank to stop onboarding new customers with immediate effect and to appoint an external audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit.

 

“Reserve Bank of India has today, in exercise of its powers, inter alia, under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directed Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop, with immediate effect, onboarding of new customers. The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its IT system. Onboarding of new customers by Paytm Payments Bank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to be granted by RBI after reviewing report of the IT auditors. This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the bank,” the RBI had said in a notification on March 11, 2022.

 

Strike Four

 

After the system auditor’s report was available in the later part of 2022, RBI found that there was no serious action was visible on part of the bank to take necessary corrective actions.

 

By October 2023, the RBI imposed a monetary penalty of ₹5.39 crore for continued non-compliance with KYC norms, signaling the fourth strike against PPBL. The regulator cited failures in identifying beneficial owners, monitoring payout transactions, breaching regulatory ceilings, delayed reporting of cybersecurity incidents, and lapses in video-based customer identification process (V-CIP), among other concerns.

 

Serious KYC AML violations, diigital frauds, money laundering risks

 

“There are major irregularities in KYC, which expose the customers, depositors and wallet holders to serious risk,” said a person directly in know of the matter. These included absence of KYC for a  large number of customers, running into lakhs, PAN validation failures in lakhs of accounts, the source said.

 

The RBI found that in thousands of cases the same PAN was linked to more than 100 customers and in some cases for more than 1,000 customers. The total value of transactions in some accounts ran into crores of rupees, much beyond regulatory limits in minimum KYC pre-paid instruments raising money laundering concerns, the source added.

 

 

The regulator also found an unusually high number of dormant accounts which are prone to have been used as mule accounts. “Out of about 35 crore wallet accounts Paytm maintains, RBI found as many as 31 crore being inoperative,” said another person directly in the know.

 

There were also concerns relating to money laundering arising from deficiencies in the KYC processes and lack of transaction monitoring system of the bank. In lakhs of cases, for instance, the accounts and wallets were found to have been frozen by various law enforcement authorities across the country, as such accounts were used for committing digital frauds, CNBC-TV18 has learnt.

 

To be clear, Paytm’s customer accounts are under scrutiny due to weak regulatory compliance leaving them prone to misuse, but there are no allegations or regulatory concerns relating to the company or its founder having indulged in any money laundering activities.

 

Arm’s length not maintained in dealing with Promoter Group Entities

 

Adding to the gravity of the situation, the RBI found co-mingling of the group's financial and non-financial businesses with its promoter group companies, violating licensing conditions and RBI directives. The PPBL's dependence on the IT infrastructure of its parent entity, One 97 Communications Limited (OCL), raised concerns about data privacy and sharing, CNBC-TV18 has learnt.

 

“PPBL’s dependence on the IT infrastructure of OCL remained absolute and there was no operational segregation. Many transactions were routed through the parent entity-owned apps,” said one of the people quoted earlier.

 

One97 Communications owns a significant 49% stake in Paytm Payments Bank, with the remaining 51 percent held by Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Regulatory concerns have been raised over the perceived lack of separation between these entities, that may have caused some money and data to flow between them even when such exchanges should be restricted.

 

Lack of transparency from promoters

 

What made matters worse was a pattern of non-transparency from the promoters of the bank, which added to the regulator’s concerns about the PPBL. “On several occasions, the compliance submitted by the bank was found to be false upon verification, both by the RBI supervisors and external auditors,” a person in the know said.

 

The RBI observed that the Paytm Payments Bank’s payables to its parent entity OCL, which were substantial, were often not disclosed in the financial statements of the bank. “Agreements were often being revised to benefit the OCL or its group companies, and apparently detrimental to the bank and its clients,” added the person quoted earlier.

 

“Paytm Bank is dealing in public money,” said another person directly in know of the matter, adding “The RBI action is to prevent the payment bank being run in a manner detrimental to the interest of its depositors, customers and other genuine stakeholders.”

 

Paytm’s response

 

In response to CNBC-TV18’s detailed questionnaire listing all of these concerns flagged by the regulator seeking the bank’s response, Paytm said it acknowledged the recent RBI directive regarding Paytm Payments Bank and was taking this very seriously, without giving any further details on the questions raised.

 

Pichoda!! Ivanni evaru saduvutharu… andaru headlines and thumbnails batchye!!

if you don’t believe me, try to read how inshorts has become 450cr company from starting with just a fb page

[Ara_Tenkai]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

Compliance failure and no transparency on laundering..

fake accounts ekkuva chupinchi run chesaru anta...

Also they had not disclosed or taken consent to deposit the cash of users into paytm payments bank… lapse in kyc

[Spartan]

28 minutes ago, Ara_Tenkai said:

Pichoda!! Ivanni evaru saduvutharu… andaru headlines and thumbnails batchye!!

if you don’t believe me, try to read how inshorts has become 450cr company from starting with just a fb page

ulfa gallanna...aak ki paak ki teda teliyakunda..

oke agenda meeda bratikestunnaru....

asalu common sense to alochiste....evadaina opress urike enduku chestadu..that too..to just benefit another company..

[Android_Halwa]

Ipudu PayTM ni Ambani takeover sesthe emana takuvaitada ? Poni eedu emana market leader uh ? Almost demo time nundi compliance ani eedini dobbutune vunnaru, aina ollu degara petukokunda flouting norms…

Chinese investors nundi Ambani take over sesthe manchide kada vayya, 100% Indian owned entity ayitada kada and vaadi expansion and new avenues Ki funding kuda dorukutadi…

Deentla emundivayya eduvanika ?

[enigmatic]

looks like they screwed up big time

[bhaigan]

On 2/5/2024 at 2:32 PM, JaiBalayyaaa said:

Paytm gadi problem is getting Chinese investment

Ayina kani ee salim feku modi matram we ban chinese products and apps antadu but they need chinese money thu intha nicha nikurstudu veediki oka vision anta gujarat development model anta