RBI Governor Asks Banks to Strengthen Liquidity Buffer, Stay Alert on Social Media

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday asked banks to strengthen their liquidity buffer to handle any unfavourable situation and stay alert in social media space. He also said the feasibility of expanding RTGS (real-time gross settlement) to settle transactions in major trade currencies such as the dollar and euro can be explored.

He also said the Central Bank Digital Currency has the potential to facilitate efficient cross-border payments.

In his keynote address at the conference on ‘Central Banking at Crossroads’, Das said, “Remittances are the starting point for many emerging and developing economies, including India, to explore cross-border peer-to-peer (P2P) payments. We believe there is immense scope to significantly reduce the cost and time for such remittances.”

He added that the feasibility of expanding real-time gross settlement (RTGS) to settle transactions in major trade currencies such as dollar. Euro and Pound can be explored through bilateral or multilateral arrangements.

Das also said divergence of monetary policies across the world is leading to volatility in capital flows and exchange rates. Today’s global economy is more integrated than ever before.

The RBI Governor also raised concerns over misuse of Artificial Intelligence in the banking space saying it could lead to more cyber attacks and data breaches.

“Banks and other financial institutions must put in place adequate risk mitigation measures against all these risks. In the ultimate analysis, banks have to ride on the advantages of AI and Bigtech and not allow the latter to ride on them,” he said.