RBI imposes penalty on four cooperative banks

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has imposed penalties of up to Rs 5 lakh on four cooperative banks for violation of various norms.

RBI said it has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 5 lakh on The Cooperative City Bank, Guwahati, for flouting KYC norms and non-adherence to requirements relating to identification and reporting of suspicious transactions.

A penalty of Rs 2 lakh has been imposed on Indapur Urban Cooperative Bank, Indapur, District Pune, for violations of norms related to KYC/anti-money laundering and credit exposure norms on loans.

RBI imposed penalty of Rs 1 lakh on Shri Dadasaheb Gajmal Cooperative Bank, Pachora, District Jalgaon for violation of norms relating to creation of floating charge on its assets without the prior permission.

In a separate statement, the central bank said it has imposed penalty of Rs 1 lakh on The Model Cooperative Urban Bank, Hyderabad, Telangana for violation directives and guidelines on loans and advances to directors and their relatives.

In all cases show cause notices were issued.

After considering the facts of the respective cases and the replies, RBI said it came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty.

Meanwhile, RBI has modified its directions regarding The R.S. Co-op. Bank, Mumbai and relaxed payment terms for deposits.

"A sum not exceeding Rs 10,000 in every savings bank or current account or term deposit account or any other deposit account (by whatever name called), may be allowed to be withdrawn by depositor, provided that wherever such depositor is having liability to the bank in any manner, i.e. either a borrower or surety, including loans against the bank deposits, the amount may be adjusted first to the relevant borrowal account/s," RBI said regarding The R.S. Co-op. Bank.

The earlier limit was Rs 1,000.

The amount required to pay the depositors should be kept by the bank separately in an escrow account and/or in earmarked securities which will be utilised by the bank only to pay to the depositors as per the revised directions, the RBI added.

The modification, RBI added "should not per-se be construed to imply that Reserve Bank of India is satisfied of substantive improvement in the financial position of the bank".

The Reserve Bank notified that The R.S. Co-op. Bank was placed under directions for a period of six months in June 24, 2015. The validity of the directions was extended for a further period of six months and three months and the same is valid upto September 25, 2016.