Consolidated account statements to reflect deposits in banks

MUMBAI: Individuals may soon find it easier to see their financial assets in one place. RBI on Wednesday announced two measures: making account aggregators interoperable and allowing bank-deposit information to be added to the monthly consolidated account statement (CAS), which currently captures holdings such as shares, mutual funds and pensions. The move will make it easier for survivors of deceased account holders to discover their financial assets and reduce the number of unclaimed deposits.Interoperability will allow customers to use any account aggregator to access and share financial information held across different banks and other financial-information providers. With about 15 account aggregators, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said information was fragmented; linking them would make it easier for individuals, insurers, asset managers and investment advisers to use it, with the customer’s consent.Account aggregators let customers securely consolidate and share financial data from multiple banks and financial institutions with their consent. For lenders, this provides a faster view of income, cash flows and liabilities for credit assessment; for personal-finance apps, it brings fragmented financial information into one dashboard.RBI is also facilitating the inclusion of bank deposits in CAS through account aggregators. Demat holders will thus be able to see securities and bank deposits together, while those without demat accounts will continue to obtain and share a consolidated view of their financial information through account aggregators.