RBI imposes Rs 5-lakh penalty on two banks

The banks violated norms by sanctioning loans and advances to Directors and their relatives in addition to KYC rules

Reserve Bank today imposed penalty of Rs 5 lakh each on Chanasma Nagrik Sahakari Bank and Bijnor Urban Co-operative Bank for violation of various norms, including Know Your Customer (KYC).

RBI said Bijnor Urban Co-operative Bank, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh violated norms by "sanctioning loans and advances to Directors and their relatives" in addition to KYC rules.

The Chanasma Nagrik Sahakari Bank, Chanasma, District Patan (Gujarat) was found violating KYC and Anti Money Laundering (AML) guidelines.

In the case of Chanasma bank, the RBI had issued a Show Cause Notice to the bank based on the findings of inspection of the bank. In response the bank submitted a written reply and made personal submission to the Regional Director, RBI, Ahmedabad.

In the other case as well, show cause notice was sent and the bank had replied.

However, in both the cases the RBI concluded that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty.