Relief for BOB as RBI lifts the ban on onboarding customers on its BoB World mobile app

Bank of Baroda | Deposits up 8.3% year-on-year but decline 0.3% sequentially. Domestic deposits decline 0.6% sequentially. Advances up 13.6% year-on-year and 2.4% quarter-on-quarter. Credit-Deposit ratio at 84.2% from 80.4% last year and 82% sequentially.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed the Bank of Baroda (BoB) to onboard customers on its mobile app, BoB World, after remedial measures taken by the bank.

“The RBI, vide its letter dated 8th May 2024, conveyed to the Bank its decision to lift the above mentioned restrictions on BoB World with immediate effect, as such as the bank is free to onboard customers through BoB World application in accordance with the applicable guidelines and extant laws/regulations,” the lender informed in an exchange filing.

The regulator had asked the BoB on October 10 to suspend any onboarding of customers onto its BoB World mobile application following concerns over service disruptions and the unauthorised linking of mobile numbers to bank accounts of customers to show higher registrations on its mobile banking application.

A CNBC-TV18 report in mid-October last year revealed that the state-owned lender suspended several employees after an internal audit for alleged tampering of customer accounts to boost registrations.

The RBI lifting the ban on the lender to onboard customers via the BoB World app could turn out to be a huge boost for the public sector bank stock. A Macquarie report last year showed that the app accounts for 43% of time deposits and three-fourths of all BoB retail loans.

Bank of Baroda share price settled at Rs 262.90 apiece, higher by 1.5% at close. BoB stock price has surged 12.5% this year so far, while the one-year return is nearly 48%.