- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog against money laundering and terrorist financing, is considering new disclosure norms for cross-border online transactions, including credit cards, government officials told Business Today TV.
- The proposed changes could also involve real-time tracking of the transactions. This shift may affect both international and domestic transactions, a source from the Finance Ministry said, requesting anonymity.
- Currently, credit card transactions only require the disclosure of the cardholder’s name and country of origin. The new standards would expand this to include more detailed real-time tracking and also bring compliance for most payment aggregators under the disclosure norms.
- If adopted, the new standards would require significant legal and procedural changes across countries.
- “Consultations are ongoing with industry players, including VISA and Mastercard,” an official shared.
- According to sources, the challenge lies in ensuring that compliance does not compromise the ease of doing business or the speed of transactions.
- “This could take some time, and discussions are expected to evolve by mid-next year,” the official added. India will host a consultation discussion on these changes in April end next year in Mumbai.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is also actively engaging with industry stakeholders on this issue. Sources indicate that the RBI is advocating for both transparency and operational viability.
FATF is set to release India’s mutual evaluation report on September 19, with expectations that India will retain its compliance rating on 32 out of 40 standards. The report, adopted at the FATF plenary in Singapore from June 26-28, places India in the “regular follow-up” category, a distinction shared by only four other G-20 countries.
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