State Bank imposes Rs1.68bn fine on 15 commercial banks

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Sunday has fined 15 commercial banks for violating its regulations including not recording customers’ data, foreign exchange laws as well as anti-money laundering and terror financing laws.

The SBP imposed penalties worth Rs1.68bn on these banks from the period starting from March 2020 to June 2020.

The SBP fined MCB Bank Rs158.474 million, National Bank Rs269.810 million, Al Habib Bank Rs46.82 million, Habib Metropolitan Bank Rs22.85 million, Bank Alfalah Rs40.305 million, Askari Bank Rs29.814 million, Bank Islami Rs11.517 million, Punjab Provincial Cooperation Bank Rs81,500 million, Zarai Tarqiati Bank Rs147.250 million, as per the notification issued.

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United Bank Limited Rs137.001 million, JS Bank Rs71.417 million, Meezan Bank Rs81.060 million, Faysal Bank Rs96.128 million, The Bank of Punjab Rs286.333 and Habib Bank Rs204.217 million were fined.

Out of these banks, 12 were fined for procedural violations pertaining specifically to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD).

The Bank of Punjab slapped the highest penalties Rs286.333 followed by Habib Bank Rs204.217 million for procedural violations.

SBP advised these banks to strengthen their KYC/CDD processes to avoid similar violations in the future.