The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday lifted restrictions imposed on financial services provider American Express Banking Corporation and allowed it to bring new domestic customers on board its card network.

The central bank had accused the company of failing to comply with a circular that directed payment system providers to ensure their entire data was stored in India. This data included full end-to-end transaction details and information that was collected, carried or processed as part of payments instructions.

The circular was issued on April 6, 2018.

“In view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by American Express Banking Corp, with the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] circular... on storage of payment system data, the restrictions imposed vide order dated April 23, 2021 on onboarding of new domestic customers have been lifted with immediate effect,” the central bank said on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India had barred American Express from issuing cards to new domestic customers from May 1, 2021.

Through the circular issued in April 2018, the central bank had also directed payment system providers to report compliance with its directive by October 15, 2018.

It had also directed them to submit a systems audit report conducted by an auditor empanelled with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-IN.