RBI penalizes 22 banks for violating KYC norms

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has fined 22 banks by imposing penalty for violating Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms and anti-money laundering guidelines. The banks who have been fined include SBI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and some other banks all of whom have been fined Rs.3 crore each. The central bank also issued “cautionary letters” to seven other banks including Citibank, Standard Chartered and Barclays as no violation of serious nature by them was established.

The violations by the public sector banks were revealed in a sting operation by online portal, Cobrapost.

As per the RBI, the investigation against the fined banks did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering.

The banks who have been penalized for violating Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti-Money Laundering norms includes the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, and other public sector banks such as Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Canara Bank. Earlier, three ‘new generation’ private banks were slapped with stiff fines by the central bank whose investigations followed an expose by online portal Cobrapost. The latest list includes the relatively new Yes Bank as well as some old private banks such as Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2013