Govt advises banks to appoint nodal officers for cyber security following UCO Bank incident

During a meeting between the ministry and bankers in Delhi, the government also urged banks to enhance security measures to prevent cyber fraud.

This comes in the aftermath of a series of reported financial frauds by banks in recent months.

On November 10, UCO Bank reported an issue with its IMPS server, and Bank of Baroda's digital application, BOB World, was involved in fraudulent activities.

TRAI has blocked 7 million mobile phone numbers due to suspicious activities, Department Financial Services (DFS) secretary Vivek Joshi said after the meeting, media reports said.

Joshi underscored the need for improved coordination among agencies to combat cyber fraud effectively.

Joshi also stressed the need for standardisation and simplification of Know Your Customer (KYC) processes for merchants.

The Secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) said that 259 financial institutions are currently enrolled with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), and the remaining 541 out of the total 800 are being instructed to complete their registration.

States have been instructed not to upload Aadhar details from land records to prevent frauds, he added.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary, Telecom and senior officials of Department of Financial Services (DFS), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Revenue (DoR), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Telecom (DoT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Indian Cyber Crime Co-ordination Center (I4C), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank, Airtel Payment Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Google Pay India, PayTM, and Razorpay.

The Finance Ministry said all financial institutions, including NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies) and significant cooperative banks, are being onboarded onto the 'Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS)' platform. Already, 259 financial intermediaries are already onboarded, it said.