RBI fines 6 banks for flouting norms

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday penalised six more banks for violation of know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering norms. In a website notification on Friday, RBI listed six public sector banks, including Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, IDBI Bank and Indian Bank as those penalised.

The penalties range between R50 lakh to R2 crore, RBI said on its website.

IndusInd Bank was spared from monetary penalties and was issued a cautionary letter, RBI said. "Based on written and oral submissions, as the bank's reply was found to be satisfactory or no violation of serious nature has been established; it has been decided not to impose any monetary penalty," the banking regulator said on website.

In the aftermath of the money-laundering allegations by news portal Cobrapost earlier this year, RBI had carried a scruitny of book of accounts, internal controls, compliance systems and processes of a number of banks in April and May. The scrutiny had revealed violation of certain regulations and instructions by RBI.

The violations included non-adherence to KYC norms, anti-money laundering norms, instructions for import of gold on consignment basis, instructions on sale of gold coins and demand drafts and instructions on permitted credit to non-resident accounts.

On the basis of the scrutiny, the regulator had issued a showcause notice to these banks, in response to which individual banks submitted responses. Depending on the facts presented by these banks, RBI concluded that monetary penalties had to be levied in certain cases.

"The investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering. However, any conclusive inference in this regard can be drawn only by an end-to-end investigation of the transactions by tax and enforcement agencies," RBI said on website.

In June, RBI had first penalised three private sector lender namely ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank with monetary penalties ranging between R1-5 crore. Later in July, 22 other banks, including State Bank of India, were also penalised for similar violations.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rbi-fines-6-banks-for-flouting-norms/1159339/