Case Brief
What Happened
The Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 5.00 lakh on Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Ltd., Mumbai, Maharashtra, under Section 47A(1)(b) read with Section 46(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (as applicable to co-operative societies). The penalty followed a special scrutiny of the bank's Vashi branch concerning the account of M/s Speak Asia Online Private Limited, which revealed violations of RBI KYC/AML guidelines, including freezing the account in a way that tipped off the customer and closing the account, thereby ending the audit trail. RBI also observed an earlier KYC/AML lapse in RTGS transactions with Union Bank of India, Zaveri Bazar Branch, indicating recurrence of non-compliance. After a show-cause process and review of the bank's reply, RBI concluded the violations were substantiated and classified as 'Major'.