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.
FAQ's on "AA Network"
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Query |
Solutions |
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1 |
What is an Account Aggregator? |
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. |
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Regulator of AA Network? |
RBI |
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3 |
Data Sharing provision |
Data cannot be shared without the consent of the individual. |
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How will the new Account Aggregator network improve an average person's financial life? |
India's financial system involves many hassles for consumers today -- sharing physical signed and scanned copies of bank statements, running around to notarise or stamp documents, or having to share your personal username and password to give your financial history to a third party. The Account Aggregator network would replace all these with a simple, mobile-based, simple, and safe digital data access & sharing process. This will create opportunities for new kinds of services -- eg new types of loans. |
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5 |
How is Account Aggregator different to AadhaareKYC data sharing, credit bureau data sharing, and platforms like CKYC? |
AadhaareKYC and CKYC only allow sharing of four 'identity' data fields for KYC purposes (eg name, address, gender, etc). Similarly, credit bureau data only shows loan history and/or a credit score. The Account Aggregator network allows sharing of transaction data or bank statements from savings/deposit/current accounts. |
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6 |
What kind of data can be shared? |
Today, banking transaction data is available to be shared (for example, bank statements from a current or savings account) across the banks that have gone live on the network. It will also expand beyond the financial sector to allow healthcare and telecom data to be accessible to the individual via AA. |
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7 |
Can AAs view or 'aggregate' personal data? |
Account Aggregators cannot see the data; they merely take it from one financial institution to another based on an individual's direction and consent. Contrary to the name, they cannot 'aggregate' your data. AAs are not like technology companies which aggregate your data and create detailed profiles of you. |
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Is the data sharing secure? |
The data AAs share is encrypted by the sender and can be decrypted only by the recipient. The end to end encryption and use of technology like the 'digital signature' makes the process much more secure than sharing paper documents. |
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Can a consumer decide they don't want to share data? |
Yes. Registering with an AA is fully voluntary for consumers. A customer can reject a consent to share request at any time. If a consumer has accepted to share data in a recurring manner over a period (eg during a loan period), it can also be revoked at any time later as well by the consumer. |
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If a consumer has shared my data once with an institution, for how long can they use it? |
The exact time period for which the recipient institution will have access will be shown to the consumer at the time of consent for data sharing. |
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How can a customer get registered with an AA? |
You can register with an AA through their app or website. AA will provide a handle (like username) which can be used during the consent process. |
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Application details |
Today, four apps are available for download (Finvu, OneMoney, CAMS Finserv, and NADL) with operational licenses to be AAs. Three more have received in principle approval from RBI (PhonePe, Yodlee, and Perfios) and may be launching apps soon. |
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13. |
Does a customer need to register with every AA? |
No, a customer can register with any AA to access data from any bank on the network. |
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14. |
Does a customer need to pay the AA for using this facility? |
This will depend on the AA. Some AAs may be free because they are charging a service fee to financial institutions. Some may charge a small user fee. |
15. What new services can a customer access if their bank has joined the AA network of data sharing?
The two key services that will be improved for an individual is access to loans and access to money management. If a customer wants to get a small business or personal loan today, there are many documents that need to be shared with the lender. This is a cumbersome and manual process today, which affects the time taken to procure the loan and access to a loan. Similarly, money management is difficult today because data is stored in many different locations and cannot be brought together easily for analysis.
Through Account Aggregator, a company can access tamper-proof secure data quickly and cheaply, and fast track the loan evaluation process so that a customer can get a loan. Also, a customer may be able to access a loan without physical collateral, by sharing trusted information on a future invoice or cash flow directly from a government system like GST or GeM.
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to avoid errors or omissions in this material. In spite of this, errors may creep in. Any mistake, error or discrepancy noted may be brought to our notice which shall be taken care of in the next edition. In no event the author shall be liable for any direct, indirect, special or incidental damage resulting from or arising out of or in connection with the use of this information.
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