Why has Bank of Baroda suspended 11 assistant general managers?

Due to significant supervisory difficulties with the onboarding process for its mobile application "Bob World," Bank of Baroda (BoB) has suspended one general manager and eleven assistant general managers.

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This action was taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after an audit exposed serious irregularities regarding client accounts and unapproved app management. Following that, the RBI referred to Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act of 1949.

According to the RBI, any upcoming onboarding into "Bob World" will only be approved following the correction of any defects found and the strengthening of any relevant procedures. Bob was told to avoid causing any inconvenience to the current "Bob World" clients as a result of this ban.

What is the issue about?

The problem is centered on a potential scam that may have occurred when clients registered for the internet banking app. Al Jazeera and The Reporters' Collective said in a report from July that employees at several Bank of Baroda branches linked consumers' bank accounts with irrelevant phone numbers and registered them for Bob World.

The mobile app, like the majority of other banking apps, attempts to provide users with an improved experience with digital banking in a variety of areas, such as loan applications, savings and investment, as well as functions like bill payment and bus and hotel reservations.

According to the report, bank employees linked bank accounts that lacked mobile phone numbers with the names of staff members, cleaners, and security guards in order to satisfy the bank's strict targets for digital app sign-ups. After registering the bank accounts, the staff deleted them from the app and then linked another set of bank accounts using identical cell numbers.

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