SBP imposes hefty fines on four banks

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed hefty fines on four banks worth Rs83.15 million over regulatory breaches, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The SBP’s document issued by its Banking Supervision Department stated that four commercial banks were found involved in the violations of rules and regulations which led to the imposition of fines worth Rs83.15 million.

It stated that the commercial banks were found guilty of breaching the standards of Know Your Customer (KYC), foreign exchange, and general banking operations.

It added that the penalties were based on deficiencies in the compliance of regulatory instructions and did not reflect the financial soundness of the entities.

The central bank instructed these individual banks to address the issues immediately.

Read More: SBP decides to introduce ‘structural reforms’ in exchange companies sector

Earlier in the month, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) suspended with immediate effect the authorisation of five Exchange Companies due to violation of regulatory instructions.

In a statement, the central bank said it has suspended authorization of five Exchange Companies – B Category till further orders due to serious violations of regulations and instructions.

The five companies were:

• International Exchange Company –B (Pvt) Limited
• World Wide Exchange Company –B (Pvt) Limited
• World Exchange Company –B (Pvt) Limited
• Universal Exchange Company –B (Pvt) Limited
• United Exchange Company –B (Pvt) Limited

“All the aforementioned Exchange Companies –B Category, their head offices and all branches have been debarred from undertaking any kind of business activity during the suspension period,” the statement noted.

The development comes at a time when a crackdown against US dollar smuggling was underway.