Protean wholly owned subsidiary receives Account Aggregator license

By Leandra Monteiro

Protean eGov Technologies Limited (formerly NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited), a pioneer and leader in universal, citizen centric and population scale e-governance solutions, has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its wholly owned subsidiary to operate as an Account Aggregator (with an NBFC-AA certificate).

An Account Aggregator (AA) is a type of RBI regulated entity (with an NBFC-AA license) that helps an individual securely and digitally access and share information from one financial institution they have an account with to any other regulated financial institution in the AA network. Data cannot be shared without the consent of the individual. An Account Aggregator replaces the long terms and conditions form of ‘blank cheque’ acceptance with a granular, step-by-step permission and control for each use of your data.

Suresh Sethi, MD & CEO, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd. said, “Account Aggregator is a critical step towards enabling data democracy. A first-of-its-kind consent framework empowers an individual with control over his or her data, and the ability to securely, digitally access, and share the same. Protean has been at the forefront of creating Digital Public Infrastructure for India and we are keen to contribute to the Account Aggregator ecosystem in the coming years. Protean is positioned to harness the potential of this technology and drive economic empowerment and inclusion at scale. We are committed to work towards bringing a change in the financial services industry, through our innovative and sustainable solutions.”

The Account Aggregator (AA) network is a financial data-sharing system that could revolutionize investing and credit, giving millions of consumers greater access and control over their financial records and expanding the potential pool of customers for lenders and Fintech companies. Account Aggregator empowers the individual with control over their personal financial data, which otherwise remains in silos. This is the first step towards bringing open banking in India and empowering millions of customers to digitally access and share their financial data across institutions in a secure and efficient manner.