RBI Extends Deadline For Periodic KYC Update By 3 Months Till March 31 Amid Omicron Threat

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended deadline for periodic update of KYC (Know Your Customer) by 3 months till March 31, 2022.

The earlier deadline for the same was December 31.

In a notification on its website, the central bank said, “In view of the prevalent uncertainty due to new variant of Covid-19, the relaxation provided in the ... circular (relating to Periodic Updation of KYC Restrictions on Account Operations for Non-compliance issued in May) is hereby extended till March 31, 2022.”

In May, the RBI had advised the regulated entities not to impose punitive restriction on operations of accounts of customers for their failure to comply with the KYC updating norms till December-end.

The RBI in 2016 had directed regulated entities to follow certain customer identification procedures in terms of the provisions of Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 and Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005.

According to the directives no account shall be opened in anonymous or fictitious or a benami name. No account will be opened if a regulated entity is unable to apply proper customer due diligence (CDD) measures either due to non-cooperation of the customer or non-reliability of the documents/information furnished by the customer.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Financial Stability Report (FSR) has said that private cryptocurrencies pose immediate risks to customer protection and anti-money laundering, and combatting the financing of terrorism as digital currencies are extremely volatile given their highly speculative nature.

According to the report, “They are also prone to frauds and to extreme price volatility, given their highly speculative nature. Longer-term concerns relate to capital flow management, financial and macro-economic stability, monetary policy transmission and currency substitution.”