Urban cooperative banks reported nearly 1,000 frauds in five years: RBI

Around 1000 fraud cases worth over Rs 220 crore have been reported by Urban cooperative banks (UCBs) in the last five fiscals, according to the information from RBI. A total of 99 and 27 such cases involving Rs 46.9 crore and Rs 9.3 crore were reported during 2017-18 and 2016-17 respectively, it said.

On the other hand, nearly 187 cases of fraud worth Rs17.3 crore were reported in 2015-16 as against 478 such cases involving Rs 19.8 crore during 2014-15, the RBI data reveals. Thus, in five years, a total of 972 cases of bank fraud worth Rs 221 crore were reported by the UCBs, it further said.

“Cases of frauds reported to RBI are required to be filed by banks as criminal complaints with law enforcement agencies. Banks are required to look into aspects of staff accountability and punish the guilty through internal proceedings,” the central bank said.