The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 28, 2025 issued the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Know Your Customer) Directions, 2025, establishing a comprehensive, standardised framework for KYC, Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) obligations applicable to commercial banks. These Directions aim to prevent misuse of the financial system for money laundering or terrorist financing, aligning domestic standards with the FATF recommendations and statutory requirements under the PML Act and PML Rules.
The Directions set out detailed requirements relating to customer identification, verification of beneficial ownership, CDD for individuals and legal entities, enhanced and simplified due diligence, record-keeping, transaction monitoring, reporting to FIU-IND, and handling of foreign branches and subsidiaries. Banks must implement Board-approved KYC/AML policies, ensure ongoing monitoring, apply risk-based measures, follow strict norms for Aadhaar/Ovd use, digital KYC, CKYCR compliance, and adopt the stricter of domestic or host-country standards in overseas offices. The framework strengthens safeguards against ML/TF, enhances data integrity, and promotes transparency and compliance across the banking system.
[Notification No. RBI/DOR/2025-26/169]
