The action follows a statutory inspection for supervisory evaluation based on the bank’s financial position as of March 31, 2023.
RBI found that HSBC outsourced the disposal and closure of anti-money laundering (AML) alerts to a group company, failed to report unhedged foreign currency exposures of certain borrowers to credit information companies, and opened savings deposit accounts for ineligible entities.
The central bank clarified that the penalty is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and does not question the validity of customer transactions.
In a separate action, RBI imposed a ₹33.1 lakh penalty on IIFL Samasta Finance Limited for multiple regulatory breaches, including charging interest on loans before actual disbursement, misclassifying non-performing assets (NPAs), and allotting multiple customer identification codes instead of a Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC) for individual clients.
Also read: RBI conducts forex swap worth $10 bn to inject liquidity
Additionally, on Thursday, RBI penalised three cooperative banks in Maharashtra, with the Bombay Mercantile Cooperative Bank facing a hefty ₹33.3 lakh fine for violating banking regulations.
Lasalgaon Merchants Cooperative Bank and Business Cooperative Bank were each fined ₹1 lakh for non-compliance with asset classification and regulatory provisions.
