RBI officials meet top bankers. Here's key issues that were discussed 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held its half-yearly meeting with the top officials of state-owned banks as well as select private sector lenders on Tuesday, July 14.

Chaired by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, the meeting also included deputy governors Swaminathan J, Poonam Gupta, S. C. Murmu, and Rohit Jain. Executive Directors in charge of supervision, regulation, enforcement, consumer education and protection, and financial inclusion were also present in the meeting.

This meeting comes a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a meeting with top bankers in the capital.

Advanced technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and cyber security, were among the key issues discussed on Tuesday.

The Governor “suggested banks to leverage advanced technologies, including AI, to expand their reach, improve operational efficiency, reduce costs and enhance customer experience, while ensuring robust cybersecurity, strong internal controls and safeguards against fraud and data misuse,” the RBI said in a statement.

AI and cyber security have assumed importance in recent times, especially since Anthropic announced it’s powerful Claude Mythos AI model. The model can identify so far hidden software vulnerabilities. This has raised concerns worldwide over its potential impact should attackers get access to it and exploit the financial systems, so much so that the model hasn’t yet been released publicly.

Finance Minister Sitharaman has also in the past raised concerns over AI and cyber security and held discussions with lenders.

The meeting on Tuesday also discussed things related to CKYCR (central know your customer records) and early detection of FICN (fake Indian currency note).

RBI officials also discussed with bankers the adoption of RBI’s AI-powered MuleHunter fraud detection platform, unified lending interface and popularisation of central bank digital currency (CBDC), the retail direct platform for bond investing as well as FX Retail, the electronic foreign exchange trading platform. 

“The Governor acknowledged that the banking sector has witnessed broad-based growth and he urged the banks to continue to meet the needs of all segments and sections of the economy with renewed vigour and prudence,” according to RBI. 

Earlier, reports had indicated the issues around mobilisation of FCNR (B) (foreign currency non-resident) bank deposits would also be discussed. 

FCNR(B) deposits, external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and overseas foreign currency borrowings (OFCBs) swap initiatives were issues also discussed by FM Sitharaman with bankers on Monday. 

The Reserve Bank had announced a special window for raising FCNR (B) deposits earlier this year, the move aimed at shoring up the foreign exchange reserves and stabilise the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar. 

According to bankers, there has been significant interest from NRIs from jurisdictions like Singapore, Hong Kong, West Asia, the UK and USA among others. 

The finance minister has called upon banks to further intensify outreach to the NRI diaspora, introduce innovative deposit products and sustain the momentum of deposit mobilisation.