For a change the apex bank of the land RBI penalized several top commercial banks including SBI and PNB. Among private banks Kotak and Yes bank figured while Deutsche bank was the only foreign bank to be penalized.
The news of cooperative banks and UCBs being penalized used to hog the headlines but the acts of prestigious commercial banks some of them being in public sector, take some of the steam off them.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday ordered 22 banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Deutsche Bank, to pay a combined Rs 49.5 crore in penalties for flouting rules relating to anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations.
The central bank has imposed fines of Rs 3 crore each on top five public sector banks SBI, PNB, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda, Rs 1 crore on Deutsche Bank, the only foreign bank to figure in the regulatory action, and Rs 2 crore on Yes Bank and Rs 1.501 crore on Kotak Mahindra Bank, among others.
It has issued “suitable cautionary letters” on seven other banks, including six foreign banks with Citibank and Standard Chartered figuring in the list, as their submissions were found to be satisfactory or no violation of serious nature has been established.
According to the RBI, 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,” it said.