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Global Transfers Get a Boost: Real-Time Processing and Digital Tracking to Transform Banking
Pooja Srivastava | Anytime News Network |
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued new guidelines aimed at significantly improving the speed, transparency, and efficiency of cross-border inward payments. The move aligns with the RBI’s Payments Vision 2025 and the G20 roadmap, which focuses on making global payments faster, cheaper, and more accessible.
One of the key challenges identified by RBI was the delay at the beneficiary bank level, where funds often take time to be credited after being received. To address this, banks are now required to notify customers immediately upon receipt of cross-border payment messages. If messages are received after business hours, customers must be informed at the start of the next working day.
The RBI has also directed banks to enhance reconciliation processes of their nostro accounts. Instead of relying on end-of-day statements, banks must now perform reconciliation on a near real-time basis or at frequent intervals, not exceeding one hour, to avoid delays in crediting funds.
As per the new norms, banks should endeavour to credit payments received during foreign exchange market hours on the same day. Payments received after market hours should be credited on the next business day, subject to compliance with Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) and other regulatory requirements.
Banks may also implement Straight Through Processing (STP) systems to enable automatic credit of funds to resident individual accounts, based on risk assessment.
To further enhance customer convenience, RBI has encouraged banks to develop digital interfaces that allow customers to submit documents, track transactions, and manage foreign exchange dealings seamlessly.
These guidelines will come into effect six months from the date of the circular, marking a major step towards modernizing India’s cross-border payment ecosystem.
