ICICI Bank told to pay Rs 58.9 crore fine to RBI; here's why

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a rare move, imposed a penalty of Rs 58.9 crore on ICICI Bank, the country's third biggest lender, for failure to follow security guidelines on held-to-maturity (HTM). The penalty is for non-compliance with directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India on direct sale of securities from its HTM portfolio and specified disclosure in this regard, the RBI said in a statement on Thursday.

The central bank did not elaborate on how ICICI Bank failed to comply with its norms.

Banks need to disclose the amount of securities they keep under the HTM segment under which the papers are held until maturity and cannot be used for intraday trading.

"This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers," the RBI statement said. 

The RBI allows banks to sell securities from HTM subject to certain limits and disclosure rules.