RBI to conduct special audit for regulatory breaches by IIFL Finance, JM Financial Products

IIFL Finance Ltd and JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL) will undergo a special audit to further probe their regulatory breaches, as the Reserve Bank has initiated the process for the appointment of auditors.

The Reserve Bank has floated two separate tenders for the appointment of auditors for special audits of these two non-banking finance companies.

Audit firms empanelled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for forensic audit can participate in the tendering process, and the last date for submission of bids is April 8, as per the tender document published by the Reserve Bank of India.

The selected firms will be awarded work on April 12, 2024, as per the bid documents. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank put a curb on these two entities for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.

The central bank barred IIFL Finance from sanctioning or disbursing gold loans after certain material supervisory concerns were observed in its gold loan portfolio. The RBI had said an inspection of the company was carried out by it with reference to IIFL's financial position as of March 31, 2023.

"Certain material supervisory concerns were observed in the gold loan portfolio of the company, including serious deviations in assaying and certifying purity and net weight of the gold at the time of sanction of loans and at the time of auction upon default," the RBI had said in a statement. These practices, apart from being regulatory violations, also significantly and adversely impact the interest of the customers, the central bank added.

A day after, the Reserve Bank imposed restrictions on JM Financial Products Ltd following the finding that the company indulged in various manipulations, including repeatedly helping a group of its own customers to bid for various IPOs by using loaned funds.

The central bank barred the systemically important non-deposit-taking NBFC from providing any kind of financing against shares and debentures, including sanction and disbursal of loans against initial public offering (IPO) of shares and subscription to debentures.

In a statement, the RBI said the actions were "necessitated due to certain serious deficiencies observed in respect of loans sanctioned by the company for IPO financing as well as NCD (non-convertible debentures) subscriptions".