3/14/2013

Money laundering by 3 top private banks, says Cobrapost


Online magazine Cobrapost claims to have uncovered a money laundering racket by top three Indian private sector banks ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.
“A pan-India undercover investigation spanning several months, unearths a vast, nation-wide money laundering racket being run by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. The brazen criminal activity by these banks is channelising vast amounts of black money into the regular banking system as laundered white money,” the Web site has said.
Banks deny allegations
However, all three banks have issued statements of being fully compliant with extant regulations in their systems and practices. The banks said they were concerned about the media reports and have set out a committee to investigate into the matter.
Post reports, the stocks of all three banks had declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange. However, the shares of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank recovered by 1.89 per cent, 2.35 per cent and 0.73 per cent at 1.25 p.m.
Statements issued by the banks are as below:
ICICI Bank
“ICICI Group conducts its business with the highest level of compliance to legal and regulatory requirements. All employees of the Group are trained and required to adhere strictly to the Group Code of Conduct, including AML and KYC norms. We have demonstrated our commitment to this by following a zero tolerance policy towards any violation.
We are deeply concerned with the media reports. We want to assure our customers and all stakeholders that we are committed towards adherence to the high standards of business conduct, which is expected of us. We have constituted a high level inquiry committee to investigate into the matter and submit its findings in 2 weeks.”
HDFC Bank
We are concerned at the allegations that have appeared in the media. The matter is being investigated on top priority. The bank has a well-defined Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy which contains procedures and controls to identify and prevent the types of transactions mentioned in the Cobrapost press release.
Segregation of frontline sales activities and back office operations and post transaction monitoring processes are in place to ensure independent checks & balances and adherence to all the laid down policies and procedures of the bank. Any deviation is viewed very seriously and stringent action is taken both at an organisational and employee level.
We would like to assure our customers and other stakeholders that the bank has always adhered to the highest standards of compliance and corporate governance and will continue to do so.
Axis Bank
Axis Bank has systems and processes that are robust and fully compliant with extant regulations. We will examine whatever information that is brought to our notice and investigate thoroughly. The Bank has built a strong customer franchise over the years and maintains high corporate governance standards. Any deviations to such standards are viewed very seriously. Best practices across businesses are followed by the Bank and we are confident that all our businesses will live up to the high standards we have set for ourselves as a Bank.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/banks-order-inquiry-on-reports-of-alleged-money-laundering/articleshow/18967808.cms

1 comment:

  1. IT IS SAD. FOR COMMON MAN STRINGENT LAW COMPLIANCE AND FOR BIG NO COMPLIANCE. IT REMINDS OF IPO SCAM OF 2006, WHERE SOME OF THESE BANKS WERE INVOLVED. WHAT HAPPENED NOTHING, SMALL PENALTY AND LEFT. MORE STRANGE EVEN SEBI TRANSFER STAFF INVESTIGATING IPO SCAM UNDER THE PRETEXT OF ROUTINE TRANSFER. IS IT NOT SHAME, ROUTINE TRANSFER CAN WAIT TILL INVESTIGATION IS COMPLETED. THIS INDICATES WHO INFLUENCES THEM. HOPE COURT WILL INTERVENE IN THIS CASE AND GET THE TRUTH OUT.

    ReplyDelete