Snapdeal-owned digital payments company Freecharge has moved customers' balances from a wallet powered by YES Bank to one owned by Freecharge Payment Technologies Private limited, the company informed customers via an email. It had launched its wallet operations in a partnership with YES Bank back in September 2015 when it did not have a licence of its own. This is a pretty common practice where a payments company partners with a commercial bank to get the requisite approvals to operate a wallet. Snapdeal bought FreeCharge for a reported $450 million in 2015. It had applied for a wallet licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through a subsidiary known as Klickpay Payment Services Private Limited; in January 2016, the Klickpay was renamed to Freecharge Payment Technologies Private Limited (FCPTL). The RBI had granted a final approval in July 2016. What happens to balance in the wallet? FreeCharge's email reads that customers will be given three options if they wish to opt out of the wallet from YES Bank: - Consume the balance through purchases on merchants who signed on. Once consumed, customers need to write to care@freecharge.com by January 25, 2017 from the registered email address to notify choice of opting out. - Self-transfer wallet balance to a bank account. Customers need to enter account details and amount. The money will reflect in the account in 1-2 days. Customers need to notify Freecharge if they are opting out again. - Transfer to bank account via Freecharge's team which would take around 21 days. The care team…
