RBI flage ‘lakhs’ of accounts used for fraud, evergreening

The Reserve Bank of India has raised an alarm over certain banks having ‘lakhs’ of accounts used for fraudulent transactions and evergreening of loans during an interaction with chief financial officers and auditors of banks and financial institutions.

“One area that has come into sharper focus in the last couple of years is the control and management of internal accounts. We found certain banks having lakhs of such accounts with apparently no valid reason,” RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J said in his address to the lenders.

“Some of these accounts are also used as a conduit for certain fraudulent transactions and evergreening of loan accounts. Internal accounts are high risk in nature on account of their potential for misuse,” he said while asking the CFOs to rationalise those accounts and bring them down to the essential minimum.