Penalty of Rs 58.9 crore on ICICI Bank by RBI

Mumbai, March 29: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Thursday it has imposed a penalty of Rs 58.9 crore on ICICI Bank for non-compliance of its directions on direct sale of securities.

The bank clarified its position saying its held-to maturity (HTM) sales happened "due to a genuine misunderstanding on the timing of the applicability of RBI's direction in this matter."

An RBI statement said the penalty had been imposed in "exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions/guidelines issued by the RBI."

The apex bank said the action was based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and was not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

"RBI has imposed a penalty on the Bank for continued sale of government securities classified as HTM. ICICI Bank had continued with the sales from HTM category for a few weeks during the quarter ended March 31, 2017, due to a genuine misunderstanding on the timing of the applicability of RBI's direction in this matter," ICICI Bank said in a statement.