Account aggregators (AAs) must not monetise customer data and must keep their data-blind design, RBI executive director Kesavan Ramachandran said on October 15 at Samvaad 2026, an event run by the AA self-regulatory body Sahamati. He said data should be shared only with consent and only for the purpose approved, warned financial information providers against withholding data when customers have consented, and said Sahamati will work with ReBIT to standardise data formats across more than 19 active categories of financial information.
Why it matters: The warning comes as the RBI widens the network: its October 7 policy statement ordered interoperability among NBFC-AAs and the inclusion of bank deposit data in depositories’ consolidated account statements by December 31, 2026. Ramachandran said common standards would let smaller AAs compete with larger ones, and with data monetisation ruled out, AAs will have to grow on the consent fees they charge lenders and other data users.
Source: The Times of India, October 15, 2026; RBI Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, October 7, 2026
Image: Pinakpani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
