The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹2.27 crore on private sector lender RBL Bank for not complying with certain directives on loan recovery agents.
The central bank noticed "deficiencies in regulatory compliance" after it examined complaints received against the Mumbai-based lender's recovery agents during the financial years 2018-19 to 2021-22, the central bank said in a statement.
The RBI said that the private sector bank failed to ensure that the loan recovery agents it engaged during those periods did not resort to intimidation or harassment and that it did not ensure police verification of the agents before employing them.
“This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance observed relating to the period FY 2018-19 to FY 2021-22 and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers,” the RBI said.
Back in 2022, the RBI issued a circular advising the financial institutions it regulated to "strictly ensure that they or their agents did not resort to intimidation or harassment of any kind", and that any violation would be "viewed seriously".
RBL Bank has reported a 34 per cent growth in its December quarter net profit at ₹209 crore. The lender had posted a profit of ₹156 crore in the October-December quarter of FY2021-22.
As per a regulatory filing, RBL Bank's total revenue grew 11 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,767 crore and net interest income was up 14 per cent to ₹1,148 crore for the quarter ended December 2022.
Bank's gross NPA ratio improved to 3.61 per cent compared to 3.80 per cent as at September 30, 2022 and net NPA ratio was 1.18 per cent versus 1.26 per cent as at the end of September 2022 quarter.
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