Internet banking services to clients of IBUs
IFSCA circular e.F.No. IFSCA-FMPP0BR/5/2024-Banking · 29 Dec 2025
Official title
Internet banking services to clients of IBUs –Review
IFSCA circular e.F.No. IFSCA-FMPP0BR/5/2024-Banking · 29 Dec 2025
Official title
Internet banking services to clients of IBUs –Review
Summary
Check the official recordThe International Financial Services Centres Authority has established specific compliance requirements for internet banking services provided by International Banking Units (IBUs), categorized into Information, Interactive information exchange, and Transactional services. IBUs must obtain explicit customer consent for internet banking registration. IBUs that do not offer liability products are exempt from Interactive and Transactional service requirements. Existing IBUs must comply by June 30, 2026, or face a prohibition on onboarding new liability product customers starting July 1, 2026. New IBUs must comply with these requirements before offering liability products. The circular mandates specific features for digital dashboards, including real-time balance viewing and SMS/email alerts, and transactional features such as dual-layer authentication and user access management.
What you must do
Key dates
Who is affected
Exceptions
If you do not comply
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRES AUTHORITY CIRCULAR
e.F.No. IFSCA-FMPP0BR/5/2024-Banking December 29, 2025
Internet banking services to clients of IBUs –Review
Please refer to the Authority’s circular entitled “Internet banking services to clients of IBUs” dated April 22, 2024 (“the circular”).
On a review, it has been decided to lay down specific compliance requirements with respect to the various types of internet banking services mentioned in the circular namely Information service, Interactive information exchange service and Transactional service.
An IBU that does not offer liability products to its customers shall be exempt from implementing the requirements mandated in the circular with respect to Interactive information exchange service and Transactional service.
An IBU commencing operations after the date of issue of this circular shall not offer liability products to its customers without complying with the requirements of the circular.
An IBU that commenced operations prior to the date of this circular shall comply with the requirements of the circular by June 30, 2026 and, on failure to do so, cease onboarding new customers for liability products from July 1,
IBUs shall obtain explicit consent from their customers for registering/de- registering (in case of existing customers) for internet banking services and such consent shall be duly recorded/documented.
Information service
i. In addition to the information to be provided as per the circular, IBUs shall prominently display the list of specified currencies in which transactions are being offered by them to their customers including the facility to convert among such currencies.
ii. IBUs shall clearly communicate the cut-off timing, if any, for executing transactions with the value date being the date of the transaction.
i. IBUs shall make available a unified digital banking dashboard to their customers providing, at minimum;
a. the ability to view real-time balances across all linked accounts; b. the ability to view live market rates for currency conversions including the applicable spread offered to its customers; c. the ability to view and download account statements in machine-readable formats (e.g. CSV, JSON, XML) with unique transaction reference, timestamps and beneficiary details; d. the ability to provide disposal instructions for inward remittances received; e. the ability to apply for premature withdrawal of deposits; f. SMS alerts of transactions (where the customer seeks for such a service) for customers having a registered number with a telecom service provider in India. Where facility for SMS based alerts is not found to be feasible facility to intimate the customer through email alerts shall be provided.
i. Transactional services provided through the internet banking platform of the IBU shall, at minimum, have the following features: a. Dual-layer authentication (by means of hardware tokens and/or OTPs); b. Ability to initiate the transfer of funds between accounts held with the same IBU; c. Ability to make payments to third parties holding accounts with the same IBU; d. Ability to initiate payments to third parties holding accounts with another IBU or Bank; e. Ability to create Fixed Deposits; f. For Corporate customers holding Current accounts, at the request of the customer, facility of user access management including Master user access who may create or change roles (e.g., Maker-Checker), restrict access to specific accounts etc.; g. Ability to create pre-approved beneficiary lists including whitelisting options; h. Ability to provide white-listing options for IBU’s fintech partners; i. Ability to initiate currency conversion for pairs mentioned in 7.(i) ; j. Ability to initiate auto-schedule payouts including one-time, date based, recurring, rule- based executions; k. Validation tools to identify incorrect account numbers to the extent feasible, currency mismatches, or regulatory non-compliance for e.g. the account is in a FATF compliant jurisdiction etc., before execution.
Yours faithfully,
(Supriyo Bhattacharjee) Chief General Manager Department of Banking