RBI on Monday penalised 22 banks, including State Bank of India, for violating anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, after a Cobrapost expose on money laundering.
In April, the central bank penalised HDFC (Rs 4.5 cr), ICICI (Rs 1 cr) and Axis (Rs 5 cr). Among public sector lenders, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank have been imposed a penalty of Rs 3 crore each, while Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank and United Bank of India have been fined Rs 2.5 crore each. Among private sector banks, Federal Bank faces a fine of Rs 3 crore, YES Bank Rs 2 crore, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd Rs 1.5 crore and ING Vysya Bank Rs 1.5 crore.
Seven other banks, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, State Bank of Patiala and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, whose explanations in this regard were found satisfactory, were issued only cautionary letters, the RBI said.