RBI announces latest measure to curb cyber financial fraud

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India announced on Friday that Indian banks will soon have an exclusive internet domain named ‘bank.in’. The apex bank added that non-bank financial entities will have the domain named ‘fin.in’. The decision has been taken to curb financial fraud and make online financial security more robust.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, while unveiling the last bi-monthly monetary policy of this fiscal year, said registrations for ‘bank.in’ will commence from April 2025, and going forward ‘fin.in’ will be introduced.

He added that the decision is aimed at enhancing trust in the financial sector. He also raised concerns over instances of fraud in digital payments.

“To combat the same, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is introducing the ‘bank.in’ exclusive Internet Domain for Indian banks,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The initiative will likely reduce cyber security threats and malicious activities like phishing and streamline secure financial services.

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) will act as the exclusive registrar for the domains.

The RBI has also decided to introduce an additional layer of security by enabling an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) in foreign ‘Card Not Present’ transactions.