Big Tech in financial system poses concentration risk: RBI’s Das

TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai/ The increasing involvement of Big Tech in the financial system could give rise to concentration risk and there are potential spillovers, which call for closer attention, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday.“…enormous amounts of consumer data is being generated and leveraged upon by a few entities (the so-called Big Tech) by virtue of their huge customer base.

“Such developments raise concerns on concentration risk and potential spillovers as their level of engagement with the financial system strengthens in the years to come,” Das said at the Global Fintech Fest 2022. “Therefore, potential risks to public policy objectives of maintaining competition, market and business conduct, operational resilience, data privacy, cyber security and financial stability need closer attention,” he said.

RBI — in the past — had flagged the increased engagement of Big Tech in the financial services space, which has implications for financial stability. Big Tech companies such as Google, Amazon, and WhatsApp are already involved in India’s payment ecosystem, involving Unified Payments Interface (UPI).