In the wake of the crisis at Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday announced a slew of measures intended to better regulate urban cooperative banks.

In the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies, the RBI said that it plans to amend exposure limits and priority sector lender norms for primary (urban) co-operative banks (UCBs). It will also bring bring UCBs with assets of ₹500 crores and above under the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits reporting framework.

“The guidelines would primarily relate to exposure norms for single and group/interconnected borrowers, promotion of financial inclusion, priority sector lending, etc. These measures are expected to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of UCBs and protect the interest of depositors,” the RBI said on the exposure limits and priority sector norms.

Additionally, the RBI also plans to to prescribe a comprehensive cyber security framework for the UCBs, as a graded approach, based on their digital depth and interconnectedness with the payment systems landscape, digital products offered by them and assessment of cyber security risk.

“The framework would mandate implementation of progressively stronger security measures based on the nature, variety and scale of digital product offerings of banks,” it said.

'On tap' guidelines for SFBs

The RBI will also issue ‘On tap’ Licensing Guidelines for Small Finance Banks today. 

It had released draft guidelines on September 13 and based on comments from stakeholders, it has now finalised the norms.

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