American Express once again got the green light to onboard new customers in India
Reserve Bank of India has lifted business restrictions on American Express. It permitted the US payment provider to onboard new customers in the South Asian market after the firm demonstrated “satisfactory compliance” with local data storage rules.
Last year, the country prohibited Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club to issue new debit, credit or prepaid cards to customers. Nevertheless, restrictions allowed the abovementioned firms to serve their existing customers.
Unveiled in 2018, the local data-storage rules require payments companies to store all Indian transaction data on local servers in the country. Visa, Mastercard and several other U.S. payment providers argued these rules allowed the regulator “unfettered supervisory access.” They have previously requested India to reconsider its rules. However, since the Indian government firmly stands its ground, American companies decided to diligently meet the imposed requirements.
The ban on Mastercard was lifted in June. Now American Express can restore its onboarding activities in India as well.
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