19 Oct 2026 · weekly

SROTrac Weekly #7: The AA network gets a rate card; SEBI wants bank deposits on one statement; IRDAI's comment window shuts Sunday

Week to 19 October 2026

TL;DR

The Account Aggregator network gets a rate card. A Sahamati circular reviewed by Business Standard puts standard ecosystem pricing into effect from 1 November: the lender pulling your data pays one bill to the AA, which is split three ways between the bank that holds the data, the AA that carries it, and Sahamati itself — and ecosystem entities "cannot directly charge customers for sharing data through the network." Technology-service providers, the intermediaries who negotiated the old side-deals, get no share of the new fees. [1]
SEBI wants bank deposits on the same statement. At Sahamati's SamvAAd 2026 conference, SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the regulator is working to bring bank deposit information into the electronic consolidated account statement through the AA framework, and pointed to Sahamati's SRO role in standardising protocols as the ecosystem expands. [2]
IRDAI softens the tone but keeps the deadline. Chairman Ajay Seth says the plan is "an orderly transition from the present system to a better system," with no intention of disrupting insurers or distributors; the consultation on recalibrating insurance distribution closes Sunday, 25 October. [3] [4]
Sa-Dhan's quarter, quantified: smaller book, bigger tickets. End-June 2026 data: portfolio down 7.6% to ₹3.26 trillion, borrowers down 15% to 65.4 million, average ticket up 15% to ₹62,962 — and the SRO's own executive director now wants the ₹3 lakh qualifying-income threshold rethought, possibly linked to state-level incomes. [5]
FEDAI posts a fraud alert. The RBI-recognised forex SRO — which states plainly that it "does not service or deal with public at large" — warns of fraudsters using email addresses that look like FEDAI's. [6]

Roster & register changes

No membership movement anywhere on the register this week. The totals hold at 18 SROs / 4 regulators / 773 listed memberships / 79 orgs in 2+ SROs / 2 SRO-FTs. [7] UFF's published member wall stays at 120. [8] The daily drift check shows all 23 tracked official accounts still linked from their SROs' own sites (checked 19 October). [9]

The UFF–BSFG silence continues. Our right-of-reply window closed on 11 October with neither the SRO-FT nor the departed member responding. [10] We re-checked the mailbox this morning — a search across the whole account, spam and trash included, finds zero messages ever received from either domain. [11] That makes eighteen days since BSFG Finance's row disappeared from the member wall, and still no stated reason from anyone. [8] [10] The record remains exactly as Weekly #6 left it: the row was present in our 30 September capture, gone by 1 October, UFF's About page says "At present UFF has 120 members," and neither party has answered three plain questions about it. [8] [10]

The SROs at work

Sahamati's first big act as a funded SRO: switch on the meter. After three years of deliberation, the AA ecosystem gets standard pricing for the first time, per the circular and the three people Business Standard cites. From 1 November, banks, lenders and AAs move to common pricing under a single standard contract, replacing the separate deals struck entity-by-entity — deals that often ran through technology service providers (TSPs). The mechanics: for the circular's benchmark of a seven-month bank statement, the lender pays ₹5.88–₹6.55 per account, of which ₹2.80 goes to the bank holding the data, 40 paise to Sahamati, and the rest to the AA. Banks were previously unpaid for the plumbing; now they are, but only if they deliver — FIPs must meet a minimum monthly success rate starting at 80% from 1 December, rising in subsequent months. The circular calls this a "digital public infrastructure (DPI) utility fee," and it gives TSPs — not directly regulated, unlike AAs, banks and lenders — no share; the report quotes both sides of that argument, a TSP founder calling it a "fundamental incentive misalignment" and an AA-side figure calling TSPs "unreasonably profitable." As for the SRO itself: Sahamati ran on donations for seven years, raised ₹50 crore from more than 30 financial institutions in April, and was waiting for its June 2026 SRO recognition before announcing pricing. [1] [7]

The consumer ledger has real entries here. The good: you cannot be charged for sharing your own data through the network; the fee lands on the lender, not you; and the old alternatives — uploading PDF statements that can be doctored, or handing over net-banking passwords so software can scrape the account — are exactly what this replaces. The watch item: fees have a way of reappearing as line items. If a lender starts charging a "documentation fee" after 1 November, ask whether that is the AA pass-through wearing a costume.

SEBI joins the pipe party. Pandey told SamvAAd 2026 that SEBI plans more mutual fund and securities fields on the eCAS, and that SEBI is "working to facilitate the inclusion of bank deposit information in the electronic consolidated account statement through the AA framework, giving investors a more comprehensive view of their financial assets." He also endorsed interoperability — letting investors share financial information without being locked to a contractual relationship with one particular AA — while cautioning that expansion must not come at the cost of data quality, security, meaningful consent, grievance redressal and accountability, and naming Sahamati, "in its capacity as an SRO," as instrumental in standardising technical and operational protocols across the board. [2] Read together with RBI's 7 October interoperability commitment from last week's edition, the direction is consistent across both regulators of this ecosystem: fewer silos, one consent layer — with the SRO positioned as the standards body. [10]

IRDAI: soften the tone, keep the deadline. Seth, on the sidelines of an event on Thursday: "The idea is to allow for an orderly transition from the present system to a better system," with no intention of disrupting insurers or distributors. [3] Earlier in the week, the regulator said it was examining industry feedback on the consultation — open until 25 October — with a transition period for the fee cap under consideration, while holding the line that distribution costs must align with policyholder value and that selling incentives must reward persistency rather than first-year sales. [4] Last week we asked whether the two statutory councils' submissions would be published when filed. Nothing public yet from either council as we write; the window closes Sunday. We will check what lands.

Sa-Dhan: the quarter, quantified. Business Standard's granular reading of Sa-Dhan's Quarterly Microfinance Report puts the end-June 2026 numbers as follows: average ticket size up 15% year-on-year to ₹62,962; portfolio down 7.6% to ₹3.26 trillion; borrowers down 15% to 65.4 million; loan accounts down 19.7% to 100.6 million. Legacy stress keeps accumulating — loans 180+ days past due deteriorated 440 basis points to 17.4%. The funding mix shifted toward specialist lenders: banks' share of the book fell to 29.8% (₹79,023 crore), small finance banks' fell 9.4% (₹48,759 crore), while MFI-NBFCs grew 5.2% (₹46,884 crore). [5]

The policy argument inside the numbers: the ₹3 lakh annual qualifying-income threshold, set four years ago, is due for review — the piece reports talk of ₹4 lakh or ₹5 lakh. Sa-Dhan's ED and CEO Jiji Mammen goes further: "Per capita income varies across states; in such a scenario, having the same criteria across the country may not be the right approach," proposing "a household income linked to gross state domestic product." Equifax India's Wilfred Sigler attributes the bigger tickets to the central bank's guardrail capping borrowers at three simultaneous MFI lenders — borrowers now consolidate their needs within fewer, larger loans — while noting lenders are actively phasing out of the ₹25,000–₹50,000 segment. [5] The consumer trade-off is the same one this desk flagged with the annual report two weeks ago, now with quarterly confirmation: fewer accounts and bigger tickets mean some borrowers were pushed out entirely while survivors borrow more per loan. Whether a GSDP-linked threshold widens access or just redraws the exclusion line is exactly what the SRO should have to show.

FEDAI: a plain-language fraud alert. The SRO's homepage carries a caution (observed 19 October; the notice is undated and FEDAI's frames-based site is not in our daily capture set): "A case of impersonation has come to our notice recently, where fraudster by using an email address which looks like that of FEDAI, approached individuals with an intent to deceit them. We caution all to be aware and not to fall prey to such fraudsters." The same page states what makes this simple for consumers: "FEDAI does not service or deal with public at large, for monetary transaction or advisory or otherwise." Any email from a FEDAI-looking address asking you to move money, pay a fee, or share documents is fraud by definition. [6]

Everyone else was quiet. No announcements found in the week's coverage from FACE, UFF (beyond the wall itself), FIMMDA, FIDC, SRPA, MFIN, BASL, AIBI, AMFI or ANMI.

What it means for consumers

Your data already has a meter; you are not the metered party. From 1 November, ecosystem entities cannot charge you for sharing your data through the AA network. If a lender invoices a "documentation" or "statement" fee, question whether it is the new pass-through. And if you are still asked for net-banking passwords or PDF statements, that is the riskier path the network was built to retire. [1]
One statement to rule them all is coming. If SEBI's eCAS–AA bridge lands, bank deposits join your consolidated statement — useful for you, useful for whoever settles your affairs. [2]
The insurance distribution window closes Sunday, 25 October. If commissions and acquisition costs loaded into your premium matter to you, this is the last weekend to comment. The regulator's own framing — pay distributors for persistency, not the first sale — is worth backing. [3] [4]
Microfinance: bigger tickets, fewer borrowers, a threshold rethink pending. If your microloan application failed, the three-lender cap and shrinking books are context, not personal judgement; if the qualifying income threshold moves to ₹4–5 lakh, watch whether access widens or the line just moves. [5]
FEDAI never deals with the public. Treat any "FEDAI" email asking for money or documents as fraud. [6]

SROTrac Weekly #7: The AA network gets a rate card; SEBI wants bank deposits on one statement; IRDAI's comment window shuts Sunday

TL;DR

Roster & register changes

The SROs at work

What it means for consumers

Sources