‘Stung’ Axis, HDFC, ICICI banks fined by RBI

The RBI on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 5cr on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5cr on HDFC Bank and Rs 1cr on ICICI Bank for violation of KYC norms and anti-money laundering guidelines. HT reports.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5 crore on HDFC Bank and Rs 1 crore on ICICI Bank for violation of KYC (Know Your Customer) norms and anti-money laundering guidelines after inquiring into charges levelled by investigative website Cobrapost.

“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.” said RBI in the statement.

The penalty follows scrutiny carried out by RBI of books of accounts, internal control, compliance systems and processes of these three banks at their corporate offices and some branches during March and April.

RBI launched the probe after Cobrapost, in March, alleged that ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are involved in money laundering by accepting black money from customers to convert them into white money as a standard practice.

However, the banking regulator said that the investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering.

“The investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering,” said RBI. “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.”