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In September 2016, the RBI has proposed setting up of an Account Aggregator (AA) that would act as a common platform which enable easy sharing and consumption of data from various entities with user consent. The Account Aggregator will help individuals share their financial data with third parties in a safe and secure manner, and give them greater control over how their data is being used. In July 2019, the Account Aggregator and underlying consent layer API was unveiled as Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA). DEPA aims to democratize data access while enabling secure portability of trusted data between service providers.
An Account Aggregator provides data to a Financial Information User (FIU) from a Financial Information Provider (FIP) based on the user’s explicit Electronic/Digital consent. No financial information of the user is retrieved, shared or transferred by the Account Aggregator without the explicit consent of the user. An AA merely act as conduit between FIUs and FIPs and does not process the data. An AA is ‘data-blind’ as the data that flows through an AA is encrypted and can be processed only by the FIU for whom the data is intended. Also, an AA does not and cannot store any user’s data - thus, the potential for leakage and misuse of user’s data is prevented.
Account Aggregator Ecosystem:
Account Aggregator act as an intermediary by collecting data from FIPs that hold the customer’s financial data and share that with FIUs such as lending banks\agencies that provide financial services.
Various player under AA ecosystem are FIPs, FIUs, AAs, TSPs and Certifiers:
Account Aggregator model:
The basic account aggregator model has 4 segments, they are Customer, Account Aggregator (acting as a Consent Manager or Financial Data Access Fiduciary), Financial Information Provider (FIP) and Financial Information User (FIU).
Account Aggregator model in a pictorial view is appended below:
Account Aggregators allow users to share digitally their data with various financial institutions and service providers in exchange for easier access to credit, insurance and other financial products, or to just keep track of all their investments. Account aggregators, essentially, will act as consent brokers, taking user permission to access their financial accounts and aggregate and organize all their financial information in one place.
The data shared by the AA system will have secure digital signatures. The data will be encrypted from the Bank to the institutions a customer is seeking a loan or other financial product.
Account Aggregator apps act as pipes through which data is securely shared for access to credit, loans and other financial services Importantly, with an inbuild framework that will allow users to choose whom to share their data with, what data they want to share, for what purpose, what time period, as well as revoke permissions to access their data.
This data will be with the bank or an NBFC only as long as it is needed to process the application.
Union Bank of India is live on Account Aggregator framework on 29/04/2022. Union Bank of India is acting as Financial Information User (FIU) as well as Financial Information Provider (FIP).
The following Account Aggregators are onboarded by our Bank:
1) CAMSFinServe
2) Cookiejar Technologies Pvt Ltd (Finvu)
3) Finsec AA Solutions Pvt Ltd (One Money)
4) NESL Asset Data Limited (NADL)
5) Perfios Account Aggregator Services Pvt Ltd
6) Dashboard Account Aggregation Services Pvt Ltd (SAAFE)
Under Testing
1.NSDL E-Governance Account aggregator Ltd (Protean)
2.PhonePe Technology Services Pvt Ltd. (PhonePe)
3.CRIF Connect Pvt Ltd (CRIF)
4.Tally Account Aggregator Services Pvt Ltd (TallyEdge)
5.UNACORES Account Aggregator Solutions Pvt Ltd (UNACORES)
6. Yodlee Finsoft Pvt Ltd (Yodlee)