The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Monday, penalised 22 banks by imposing fines for violating Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms and anti-money laundering guidelines. The list includes banks such as SBI, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank all of whom were fined Rs.3 crore each.
The RBI said that it “came to the conclusion that some of the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty.” The central bank also issued “cautionary letters” to seven other banks including Citibank, Standard Chartered and Barclays as no violation of serious nature by them was established.
The violations by the public sector banks were revealed in a sting operation by online portal, Cobrapost, reported in May.
Though it imposed penalties, the RBI said that its investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering. Any conclusive inference in this regard can be drawn only by an end to end investigation of the transactions by tax and enforcement agencies, the central bank statement said.
