RBI fines SBI over Rs5.6 lakh for violation of norms
07 Aug 2013
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs5,62,555 on the State Bank of India (SBI) for violating its terms on opening and maintaining currency chests.
''The above penalty has been levied in connection with the deficiencies/lapses observed in the operation and maintenance of the currency chest at SBI, Secunderabad branch,'' RBI said in press release on its website.
The fine was imposed on 12 July, RBI said. It did not elaborate on the nature of the offence.
SBI, the country's largest bank, was among 22 lenders penalised by RBI last month for violating know-your-customer norms and anti-money laundering guidelines following an expose by website cobrapost.com. SBI was fined Rs.3 crore.
RBI imposed the penalty following a probe into alleged violation of KYC norms and money laundering by banks and financial institutions published by the online portal.
"After considering the facts of each case...Reserve Bank came to conclusion that some of the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty...", the central bank had said in a statement.
Cobrapost alleged that the 22 banks named in the report had offered to open bank accounts and lockers for customers without following KYC norms, convert their black money into white and obtain PAN cards needed for the transactions.
