MAM
Havas Worldwide launches new specialist unit
MUMBAI: Havas Worldwide has launched a specialist practice within the network that is focused on delivering innovation and digital business transformation solutions for brands called Havas Drive.
The team is based at Havas Worldwide Bangkok, and their remit spans all Havas Worldwide Offices in APAC who can draw on their expertise for client engagements.
The specialist unit boasts a team of talents from around the globe who share a vision for a new approach in the brand partnership model. Havas Drive specialists in design, data, strategy, coding/development, innovation and experience design will work with clients on business and digital transformation mandates to help them set a strategy and build new approaches to their customers.
Havas Drive is also tasked to integrate these emergent practices and thinking into the Havas creative agencies across APAC. A series of road shows and events are being planned for the coming months to showcase their approach, thinking, and expertise.
“We have been looking at new ways to incorporate and build meaningful innovation into our agencies for a while now,” said Havas Drive regional director APAC Jeff Lippold.
“With the industry moving against traditional ways of communication to reach consumers, we brought together a team of complimentary talents to build strategies, which will produce tangible approaches for our clients and quickly. We’re excited to have the level of talent joining us at Havas Drive – they are all motivated by the mission and at the top of their craft. This team will provide a seriously competitive advantage to our clients in APAC,” added Lippold.
Brands
Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
