RBI imposes penalty of ₹44.70 lakh on Bandhan Bank over regulatory lapses

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 44.7 lakh on Bandhan Bank for deficiencies in certain statutory and regulatory compliance.

In a statement on Friday, the RBI said that a statutory inspection for supervisory evaluation of the bank was conducted with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2024.

Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why a penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said RBI directions.

RBI said the bank paid remuneration in the form of commission to certain employees.

Also, Bandhan Bank had carried out manual intervention through the back-end in respect of data of certain accounts and had not captured the audit trails/ logs of access with specific user details in the system.

RBI, however, said the penalty is based on deficiencies in statutory and regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.