KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed Rs465 million penalties on four banks mostly on account of violations of regulatory instructions regarding the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and other banking operations.

The SBP on Friday imposed the highest penalty of Rs280.5m on National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) for violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to AML, Asset Quality, Foreign Exchange and General Banking Operations (GBO).

“In addition to penal action, the bank has been advised to conduct an internal inquiry on breaches of regulatory instructions and take disciplinary action against the delinquent officials,” said the SBP.

The SBP imposed Rs132.4m on the Silk Bank on the same ground as mentioned for the NBP and ask the bank to conduct internal inquiry on branches of regulatory instructions. The bank was advised to take disciplinary action against responsible officials.

The United Bank Limited received a penalty of Rs38.55m for violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to Asset Quality, Know Your Customers (KYC) and GBO. In addition to penal action, the bank has been advised to strengthen its processes with respect to identified areas. The SBP imposed Rs13.54m on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China-Pakistan Branches for the violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to KYC and GBO.

The SBP said it has been keenly watching banks mainly due to money laundering as the country could not come out from the grey list despite significant achievement required to get rid of the grey list.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2021