SBP Hammers 6 Banks with Penalties of Rs. 290 Million Over Non-Compliance

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed penalties to the tune of Rs. 290.3 million on six different banks in its routine operations of overseeing compliance and enforcement actions against non-compliance banking institutions. These banks include leading names in the banking industry such as Bank Al Habib, National Bank of Pakistan, Meezan Bank, MCB Bank, JS Bank, and Faysal Bank. Bank Al Habib received the highest-ever penalty of Rs. 140 million from the banking watchdog for violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to CDD/KYC, asset quality, foreign exchange (FX) and general banking operations, according to a quarterly enforcement action report released today. Meezan Bank faced a penalty of Rs. 81.7 million by the regulator for violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to CDD/KYC, asset quality, FX, and general banking operations. The National Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was slapped with a penalty of Rs. 25 million by the SBP during the outgoing quarter for violation of asset quality, FX, and general banking operations. MCB Bank faced a penalty of Rs. 19.2 million for violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to CDD/KYC, asset quality, FX, and general banking operations. SBP also penalized JS Bank and Faysal Bank with fines of Rs. 13.4 million and Rs. 10 million respectively for non-compliance with General Banking Operations regulations and violation of regulatory instructions pertaining to CDD/KYC respectively. In addition to penal action, SBP advised these banks to strengthen their controls/processes in the identified areas.