RBI imposes penalty on ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank

"The RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on ICICI Bank Ltd... for violation of the guidelines on Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti Money Laundering (AML) standards," the central bank said in a statement.

On Standard Chartered Bank, the RBI said the lender did not furnish, within stipulated time, information to the central bank about a foreign currency loan facility it arranged for an offshore special purpose vehicle.

Earlier, the RBI had issued show cause notices to the both the banks in response to which they had submitted written replies. RBI said that on careful examination of the banks' replies and the oral submissions made by them, it was found that the violations were "conclusively established" and the penalties accordingly imposed. Reactions from both the banks on the RBI action were awaited.