RBI comes up with draft planfor PMC Bank takeover

Inching closer to resolving the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank issue, the Reserve Bank came out with a draft scheme for takeover of the crisis-hit bank by the Delhi-based Unity Small Finance Bank (USFB).

The draft scheme of amalgamation envisages takeover of the assets and liabilities of PMC Bank, including deposits, by USFB, thus giving a greater degree of protection for the depositors, the RBI said.

In September 2019, the RBI had superseded the board of PMC Bank and placed it under regulatory restrictions, including cap on withdrawals by its customers, after detection of certain financial irregularities, hiding and misreporting of loans given to real estate developer HDIL. The restrictions have been extended several times since then.

USFB, promoted by Centrum Financial Services along with Resilient Innovation Pvt Ltd as ‘joint investor’, was granted banking licence in October 2021. USFB started functioning from November 1.