RBI penalised 12 banks for various violations in last 6 years

In response to an RTI query, the RBI has informed that in the past 6 years, it has penalised only 12 banks for various violations. Without giving information on how many banks are yet to pay the penalty, the RBI list gives names of ICICI (Rs 589 million), Yes Bank (Rs 70 million), Airtel Payments Bank (Rs 50 million), and Union Bank - which was penalised twice in the past six years - besides a few others.

The RTI query, which was filed by information activist Aseem Takyar, had asked for details of nationalised and private banks that have been imposed fines in the past six years. In reply, the RBI gave a list of 12 names, including that of SBI, IDFC, ICICI, and others penalised amounts ranging from Rs 1 million to Rs 589 million. The list of banks penalised has been compiled from the time the enforcement directorate of RBI was set up in April 2017.

In answer to a question on a list of banks yet to pay penalty, the regulating bank didn’t give any data, instead saying that not all banks examined were penalised. The answer said, “Enforcement is an on-going process of various matters being under examination from time to time, which may not always culminate in imposition of fine.”

The list given by RBI includes ICICI bank, which was penalised Rs 589 million in March this year besides three other banks, all of which were penalised in March 2018: SBI (Rs 4 million), Airtel Payments Bank (Rs 50 million) and Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd (Rs 1 million). Others penalised this year include Axis Bank (Rs 30 million) and Indian Overseas bank (Rs 20 million). While ICICI was penalised for non-compliance with directions on direct sale of securities from its HTM portfolio, SBI was fined for non-detection and destruction of counterfeit notes. Equitas was fined for distribution of third party products without priot approval from RBI and Airtel Payments for contravening operating guidelines of payments banks and KYV norms.

In 2017, the banks imposed fines include Union Bank - twice - for failure to comply with RBI norms on KYC (know your customer), IDFC Bank (Rs 20 million) for contravention of regulatory restrictions pertaining to loans, says the RBI response to the RTI query. Others are Yes Bank (Rs 60 million), Syndicate Bank (Rs 50 million) and IndusInd Bank (Rs 30 million). Their violations range from compliance with KYC norms to delayed reporting of security incident involving ATMs of the bank. #casansaar (Source - Times of India)