Mumbai, May 30 : In order to protect the interests of customers of banks and NBFCs, the Reserve Bank plans to focus on embedding AI and other related tools in the complaint management system (CMS) to facilitate lodging of complaints with ease and ensure greater consistency in the decision-making process, according to the RBI's annual report released on Thursday.

The Internal Grievance Redress (IGR) framework would be further strengthened to encourage banks to take proactive measures to improve customer service, the report states.

Going forward, the Reserve Bank will continue to endeavour to proactively take appropriate measures in the best interest of the economy to ensure a stable and strong financial system, while being mindful of risks stemming from the evolving technology, innovations, business practices and growing complexities in the financial sector, according to the RBI report.

For payment systems, the focus would be on consolidation of measures to enhance customer centricity, promote innovation and support expansion. Under the 'integrity' pillar, the Central Payments Fraud Information Registry (CPFIR) is planned to be extended to local area banks, state cooperative banks, district cooperative banks, regional rural banks and non-scheduled UCBs for payment fraud reporting.

A risk-based authentication mechanism, as an alternative to SMS-based one-time password (OTP) for an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA), would also be introduced to address risks in payments. On the international front, the Fast Payment System (FPS) as well as multilateral inter-linkages would be explored in collaboration with groups of countries like the European Union (EU) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the RBI report states,

The Reserve Bank would also review the priority sector lending guidelines and work towards formulation of the next iteration of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) for the period 2025-30, the RBI report added.

/IANS