Shares in PNB fall after internal probe finds widespread lapses

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Shares in India's Punjab National Bank fell as much as 3 percent on Thursday, a day after Reuters reported the bank's internal investigation into its $2 billion fraud had found widespread risk-control and monitoring lapses in many areas of the bank.

PNB, India's second-biggest state-controlled lender, earlier this year alleged that a handful of staff at a single Mumbai branch issued fake bank guarantees over several years to help two jewellery groups raise billions of dollars in foreign credit and commit India's biggest-ever bank fraud.

However, a 162-page internal report, produced by PNB officials tasked with probing the fraud, lays bare lapses that go far beyond a few branch officers. It lays out how failings by 54 PNB officials - ranging from clerks to foreign exchange managers, and auditors to heads of regional offices, allowed the fraud to be perpetrated.

PNB shares were down 2.7 percent and trading at 83.95 rupees at 0611 GMT, underperforming both the broader Nifty index and the banking sector index.

(Reporting by Jessica Kuruthukulangara, Abhirup Roy and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)