Why Bank Shares Drop Today: Why Did Bank Shares Bleed Out? Investigation reveals suspicious transactions

NEW DELHI: Investors ditched bank shares on Monday after a report indicated that nearly all Indian banks were involved in a series of suspicious transactions between 2010 and 2017. Nifty Bank plunged 3.36%, mostly dragged down by IndusInd Bank, which fell 8.55% to Rs 560.80. . The private bank was allegedly involved in most of the suspicious transactions, the ICIJ report shows. Bandhan Bank, RBL Bank, PNB, IDFC First Bank and Bank of Baroda were some of the main losers in the index.

Nifty Private Bank tumbled 3.71% and Nifty PSU Bank 4.39%. Public sector banks were further pressured by the RBI statement that these banks reported fraud worth more than Rs 19,964 crore in a total of 2,867 cases during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal year.

The International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) obtained a top secret Suspicious Activity Report or SAR prepared by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which mentions these transactions.

In order of the number of doubtful transactions, ICJI has named these Indian banks in their reports: IndusInd Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, SBI, Axis Bank, Allahabad Bank, ICICI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Deutsche Bank, HDFC Bank , Bank of Maharashtra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Union Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala, HSBC, RBS Bank, YES Bank, Bank of Baroda, Uco Bank, Karnataka Bank, Tamil and Mercantile Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Indian Bank, Andhra Bank, Vijaya Bank and Credit Bank.

These banks, in total 406 transactions, sent $ 406,278,962 and received $ 482,181,226.

The ICIJ has also named several foreign banks. Shares in banks around the world plunged after this explosive report. HSBC fell to its 25-year lows in Hong Kong operations.