Page 17 - Banking Finance January 2022

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

Co-Operative Bank

News

RBI Governor, PM signal stitutions that are offering higher inter- come out with new governance guide-
est rates which are viable, but deposi- lines for commercial banks and we
reforms in trouble-prone tors should always be very careful," he have constituted a committee for

urban co-operative banks reiterated at an event to mark the bringing about reforms in the urban
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor payment of nearly Rs. 1,300 crore to co-operative sector. That report has
Shaktikanta Das indicated that the over 1 lakh depositors whose funds been received and we will be taking
banking regulator will ring in sweeping were stuck in distressed banks for years. action based on it," he said,
regulatory changes to reform urban co- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who
operative banks that have been personally handed over deposit insur- Saraswat Bank chairman,
plagued by a spate of failures, and ance cheques to a few bank custom-
warned people against parking their ers whose savings with distressed seven more booked in
savings in banks offering high returns. banks had been out of reach for years, cheating case in Pune
While terming the government's deci- said that an additional three lakh de- The Pune Police have registered a
sion to raise the insured limit for bank positors would get their hard-earned cheating case against eight persons
deposits to Rs. 5 lakh from Rs. 1 lakh savings, stuck in other banks, soon. including Saraswat Bank Chairman
with a 90-day time limit to pay out such "When the RBI will oversee co-opera- Gautam Thakur and Managing Direc-
deposits as 'landmark' developments, tive banks' functioning, this will also tor Smita Sandhane, based on an or-
Mr. Das stressed that the payment of raise depositors' confidence further. We der from a judicial magistrate court.
Deposit Insurance should be seen as a have created a new Co-operatives Min- "We have registered a cheating case
'measure of last resort'. istry (referring to the Co-operation against Saraswat Bank Chairman and

"I would like to mention in all this is Ministry). The idea is to strengthen the seven other people based on a Court
that the depositors themselves must co-operative system and will empower order. The investigation is currently
also be very discerning. It is very im- co-operative banks further," Mr Modi on," Senior Police Inspector Mahendra
portant to keep in mind that higher said, noting that these problems af- Jagtap of Kothrud Police station told
returns are usually associated with flicted co-operative banks more. Moneycontrol on 27 December.
higher risks. Just because a bank is of- Mr. Das said the central bank keeps According to reports, Smita Sameer
fering higher interest, the depositors depositors' interests on top while deal- Patil, a resident of Kothrud, filed a
should be very careful in putting their ing with policy challenges and will con- complaint with the local police station
money in chasing such high returns," tinue to ensure that the entire bank- following which an FIR was registered
the RBI Governor noted. ing system remains robust. against Saraswat Bank Chairman
"I am not generalising. There are in- "Just to give an example, we have Gautam Thakur, Managing Director

BANKING FINANCE | JANUARY | 2022 | 17