RBI imposes ₹75 lakh penalty on ICICI Bank for regulatory violations

ICICI Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹75 lakh on ICICI Bank Limited. The monetary penalty has been imposed for non-compliance with regulatory directions concerning property valuation and the opening of current accounts. The action was taken under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, a press release said.

According to the official release, the penalty was levied on ICICI Bank by an order dated August 7, after supervisory findings during the Statutory Inspection for Supervisory Evaluation (ISE 2024).

The probe was held with reference to the bank’s financial position as of March 31, 2024. Based on the observations that were made during the investigation and subsequent correspondence, a notice was issued to the bank asking for it to show cause why a penalty should not be imposed for the violations from the bank's side, the release said.

The press release further said that after careful examination of ICICI Bank’s written response, additional submissions as well as oral arguments made during a personal hearing, RBI came to the conclusion that the bank had failed to carry out property valuations through independent valuers in certain mortgage loan cases.

In addition to that, the bank had also opened and/or maintained certain current accounts in violation of existing regulatory guidelines.

RBI has clarified that the penalty has been imposed on the ICICI Bank solely on account of regulatory compliance failures. The monetary body said that the penalty does not impact the validity of any transactions or agreements entered into by ICICI Bank with its customers.

The central bank also noted that the imposition of this penalty is without prejudice or bias to any further supervisory or enforcement action that may be initiated against the bank.