RBI slaps Rs 58.9cr fine on ICICI Bank
The bank said it continued with the sales from HTM category for a few weeks during the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 58.9 crore on the country’s leading private sector lender, ICICI Bank, for violating its directions on direct sale of securities.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed through an order dated March 26, 2018, a monetary penalty of Rs 589 million on ICICI Bank Limited for non-compliance with directions issued on direct sale of securities from its HTM (held-to-maturity) portfolio and specified disclosure in this regard,” the central bank said.
ICICI Bank said the violation was “due to a genuine misunderstanding on the timing of the applicability of RBI’s directions in this matter”. It said: “RBI has imposed a penalty on the bank for continued sale of government securities classified as HTM.”
The bank said it continued with the sales from HTM category for a few weeks during the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
Meanwhile, coming to the defence of its CEO Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank chairman M.K. Sharma on Thursday said the board has full confidence in her and ruled out any quid pro quo as alleged with regard to certain loan given to Videocon group.