Mumbai-based newly-licenced bank Fino Payments Bank has been slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore by the central bank, said the Reserve Bank of India in a press note on its website on Wednesday. 

“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, on October 31, 2018, imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Fino Payments Bank Limited (the bank) for contravention of the direction to stop opening of new accounts until further instructions…,” said the regulator in the release. 

ET sent a questionnaire to Fino and the copy will be updated once the company responds.

Fino Payments Bank was asked to stop all account opening activities after the RBI found out that there were few accounts with the bank with deposits in excess of Rs 1 lakh, which goes against the licensing criteria of a payments bank. 

“RBI directed Fino Payments Bank to put in place appropriate process to address the operating guidelines on deposit limits in customer accounts. In view of this development, RBI advised us not to open new accounts till the upgraded processes are in place,” said a Fino Payments Bank spokesperson in an official response to ET queries on August 1. 

On October 23 the bank had released a fresh statement saying that the freeze was lifted. 

Fino is one of the multiple payment banks penalised by the RBI for some reason of the other. Both Paytm Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank have had to face regulatory ire for not adhering to licencing guidelines properly. While Fino and Airtel have commenced operations, Paytm Payments Bank still has not been allowed to restart account opening activities. #casansaar (Source - Economic Times)