The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a 40 million Indian rupee (US$530,000) fine on Citibank for failing to comply with banking regulations and non-compliance with the central bank's directions.

The global banking giant is amongst several banks recently fined by the RBI for regulatory breaches.

L/Cs at risk

The RBI said Citi had failed to obtain declarations from customers about credit facilities they had with other banks before granting non-fund based facilities, which may have included letters of credit (L/Cs) and bank guarantees.

Citi also failed to verify credit data available in the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database and obtain no-objection certificates from lending banks at the time of opening current accounts according to the RBI.

The central bank said Citi also failed to submit compliant risk assessment findings.

More penalties

The RBI has also imposed penalties of the equivalent of between US$60,000 and US$80,000 million on three co-operative banks - Nagar Urban Cooperative Bank, TJSB Sahakari Bank and Bharat Cooperative Bank - for failing to comply with regulations on income recognition, asset classification and fraud reporting.

The central bank also imposed smaller fined on Bank of India, Karnataka Bank and Saraswat Cooperative Bank for similar breaches.

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