New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed fine on 11 public sector banks for their failure to comply with the provisions of "Frauds classification and reporting by commercial banks and select financial institutions (FIs)." While the individual penalties range between Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 50 lakh, the cumulative total comes to Rs 8.5 crores.
The Central bank said in an official statement, "This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with their customers."
"It was observed that despite having been advised by the RBI to report fraud in an account 'immediately' in the backdrop of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) having initiated criminal proceedings, the banks had delayed or did not report fraud to RBI resulting in non-compliance with directions issued by RBI as mentioned above."
The list of banks that have been penalised by the RBI include State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB), Corporation Bank, Federal Bank Ltd, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank and United Bank of India.