PNB failed on all fronts to check Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi fraud, says RBI

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday put the blame of the $2-billion Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi fraud on Punjab National Bank (PNB), including its board, and accused the state-run lender of furnishing “factually fallacious” compliance reviews.

The RBI also defended its supervision on the grounds that the onus used to be on lenders and it used to be not conceivable for the central financial institution to audit over one lakh financial institution branches in the nation.

“As regards the LoUs (letters of endeavor) issued for years without collateral by means of the PNB branch (in Mumbai) which went unnoticed, it's pertinent to recognise that number one accountability of working out the hazards undertaken by means of a financial institution and making sure that the hazards are as it should be managed via essential possibility mitigants, controls, and so on, obviously rests with the board directors of the financial institution concerned,” the regulator advised a Parliamentary Standing Committee when RBI governor Urjit Patel gave the impression.

At the same time, it demanded recent powers, arguing that the regulations needed to be amended to offer the regulator more enamel in supervising state-run banks.



The RBI contended that SBI and other nationalised banks were not “banking corporations” outlined by means of the Banking Regulation Act they usually were governed by means of other regulations. It then listed nine powers that it lacked, including the mandate to nominate and take away public sector financial institution chiefs, license them, convene a meeting in their forums or supersede the board. Further, the RBI stated it did not have powers to order voluntary amalgamation or finishing up or seek the Centre’s assist for suspension of a state-run financial institution’s industry and preparation of a restructuring plan.

The statement is anticipated to set the level for a recent battle with the finance ministry, which had questioned identical claims made by means of Patel previous. Finance ministry officers have maintained that it best had powers to nominate and take away financial institution chiefs, which used to be also executed in consultation with the Banks Board Bureau and the RBI.


In its submission to the Parliamentary panel, the RBI stated it has suggested amendments to the law to empower the central financial institution to workout “efficient regulate” over public sector banks, as it did with the personal avid gamers, on “an ownership-neutral basis”.


At the same time, the regulator sought to offer protection to its turf and suggested that the proposal for an audit by means of CAG used to be “controversial” as there have been three layers of audit — concurrent, inner and statutory. “It is controversial whether or not including a fourth layer, of audit by means of CAG, may have a lot incremental have an effect on.”


On the problem of fraud at PNB, the RBI’s detailed response stated a financial institution’s risks were expected to be managed under three lines of defence. The first, it stated, were the officers appearing the road functions to assume, own and manage risks.


In the second line are possibility screens, specialising in overseeing choices of the first line of defence. The final line are the audit functions. “In case of PNB, there turns out to had been a failure of all three lines of defence, resulting in perpetration of reminiscent of large-value fraud,” it stated.
PNB failed on all fronts to check Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi fraud, says RBI PNB failed on all fronts to check Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi fraud, says RBI Reviewed by Kailash on June 13, 2018 Rating: 5
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