Home / Business and Economy / SBI Warns: Customers Blindly Consent to Financial Data Sharing
SBI Warns: Customers Blindly Consent to Financial Data Sharing
10 Dec
Summary
- SBI MD questions single consent for all financial products.
- Customers often sign without understanding fine print.
- RBI's Account Aggregator framework faces privacy concerns.
State Bank of India's Managing Director, Ashwini Kumar Tewari, has voiced significant apprehension regarding the Account Aggregator (AA) system's reliance on a single customer consent for all financial services. He highlighted that a vast number of users grant this consent without thoroughly reading or understanding the associated terms and conditions, posing a potential privacy risk. The AA framework, regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, aims to facilitate data sharing among financial institutions.
Tewari pointed out the discrepancy between India's approach and global privacy standards like Europe's GDPR, questioning the adequacy of understanding among the 225 million AA users. He expressed that the current system, where one consent applies to diverse products like loans, wealth management, and account openings, is concerning. He believes the industry needs to proactively address these vulnerabilities.
The senior banking official emphasized the need for the fintech sector's self-regulatory organizations to find effective solutions. He warned that failure to establish robust safeguards could lead to regulatory actions, drawing parallels to the ban on real money gaming. Tewari called for collaborative industry efforts to build necessary protections for users' data.
