PNB vows to book culprits of $1.77 billion fraud, protect bank's interests

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian state-run lender Punjab National Bank has put in place a plan to book the culprits of a $1.77 billion fraud and protect the financial interests of the bank, its chief executive officer told reporters on Thursday.

PNB, India's second-largest state-run lender with assets of $120 billion, disclosed the fraud in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, saying it had referred the matter to law enforcement agencies.

Sunil Mehta said the bank has informed the markets regulator about the fraud and the bank has the capability to resolve the problem.

(Reporting by Krishna Das and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)