India to roll out common customer ID for banks, insurers; mutual funds to follow, sources say

MUMBAI, - Indian banks and insurers will launch a common customer identification system in August, with asset managers joining later, two regulatory sources and industry executives said, allowing customers to access financial products without separately submitting identification documents.

The new system, known as Central Know-Your-Customer 2.0 (CKYC), will only require the customer's consent for these institutions to fetch data stored at a central registry when opening an account or updating their details.

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India has spent more than a decade trying to create ‌a system similar ⁠to those ⁠in countries such as Singapore and several European nations, where digital identity frameworks allow customers to access multiple financial products through a common ​verification process.

It will also help combat fraud through easier monitoring, the regulatory sources said.

Capital markets firms, including mutual funds and brokerages, are expected to be able to use it later this year as regulators work through sector-specific requirements, they said.

The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media. The Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the insurance regulator, ⁠all of ‌whom are jointly executing the project, did not answer Reuters emails immediately.

The move comes ​as India seeks ​to deepen participation in financial products after having largely achieved basic financial inclusion.

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About 89% of ⁠adults owned bank accounts in 2024, as per World Bank data, but ​ownership in mutual funds, insurance and pensions remains comparatively low, regulatory data showed.

WHAT'S ​CHANGING

While India already has a central registry containing about 1.2 billion customer records, it is not widely used due to concerns about the quality of data, with duplication and missing details.

With the RBI not accepting records sourced from the registry, investors had to file the same documents to access other financial products.

In the new system, records will carry a confidence score on the accuracy of data and will say whether a firm has verified ‌the information.

Financial institutions would then need to seek customers' consent through a one-time password to access these verified records, according to the operating guidelines document seen by Reuters.

DP Singh, joint chief ​executive of SBI ​Funds Management, India's largest asset ⁠manager, said, CKYC could substantially expand the industry's investor base.

The fund house's largest shareholder and the country's largest bank by assets, State Bank of India, for instance, has 500 million bank accounts.

"Even if a fraction of eligible customers ​begin investing after universal customer identification, the upside will be significant," Singh said, adding that the framework could be rolled out for the industry within four months.

Paras Pasricha, business head, Policybazaar, India's largest insurance marketplace, said records can be updated in near real-time.

"Insurance companies are in the process of building capabilities, and we are expecting something to come up by the end of July, and in August some phase of it should go live," he said.