RBI lifts curb on American Express, allows onboarding new customers

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 24 : Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday lifted restrictions on American Express Banking Corp. With the lifting of the ban, American Express will now be able to add new customers in India to its card network.
"In view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by American Express Banking Corp with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated April 6, 2018, on storage of Payment System Data, the restrictions imposed, vide order dated April 23, 2021, on onboarding of new domestic customers have been lifted with immediate effect," said the RBI statement.
By its order dated April 23, 2021, RBI had imposed restrictions on American Express Banking Corp from on-boarding new domestic customers onto its card network from May 1, 2021 for non-compliance with the RBI circular on Storage of Payment System Data.
Pertinent to mention, similar restrictions were earlier imposed on Mastercard and Diners Club International. The restriction on Diners Club was removed in November last year while the ban on Mastercard was lifted last month.
As per the RBI norms, financial services companies like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club are required to store Indian payment data locally since October, 2018.