PMC Bank: Centrum Financial Services Gets Ready for Takeover as RBI Grants It SFB License

Moneylife Digital Team 18 June 2021

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has been trying very hard to find a solution for the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank crisis, is set to approve takeover by a consortium of Centrum group and BharatPe. On Friday, RBI granted 'in-principle' approval to Centrum Financial Services Ltd to set up a small finance bank (SFB).

In a release, RBI says, "This ‘in-principle’ approval has been accorded in specific pursuance to the Centrum Financial Services' offer dated 1 February 2021 in response to the expression of interest (EoI) notification of3 November 2020 published by the PMC Bank."

Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd (BharatPe), one of India's fastest-growing fintech companies, will be an equal partner in this venture, Centrum Financial Services says in a release.

Jaspal Bindra, executive chairman, Centrum Group, says, "We are delighted that a new banking license will be issued to a NBFC after a gap of nearly six years and would like to thank the RBI for the opportunity and confidence shown in us. We are excited to partner with BharatPe to create this new age bank, with a strong team."

"With Centrum as our partner, we are confident that we can create a world-class institution that provides a differentiated and superlative experience to retail customers as well as small businesses." added Ashneer Grover, chief executive (CEO) and co-founder of BharatPe.

A report from BloombergQuint says, "The assets and liabilities of PMC Bank will then be transferred to the small finance bank. While BharatPe's small business lending portfolio may continue to run outside the small finance bank, the loan assets under Centrum Financial Services are likely to be merged with the new entity."

RBI likely to approve a takeover of @PMC_Bank by a consortium of BharatPe and Centrum Group.@Vishwanath4389 reports in this #BQExclusive ??https://t.co/ahEnNkyh5C
— BloombergQuint (@BloombergQuint) June 18, 2021

The PMC Bank scam broke after Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), a single borrower which accounted for 73% of PMC's loan book, went bankrupt.

HDIL, in collusion with PMC Bank executives, created thousands of fake customer accounts to re-route funds to itself.

Earlier on 24 September 2019, RBI imposed strict restrictions on the Mumbai-based Bank. PMC Bank was also barred from carrying out most of its routine business transactions and depositors were restricted to withdraw only Rs1,000 from their accounts at that time. This limit was raised to Rs1 lakh in June 2020 with which the central bank had said that more than 84% of the depositors of the Bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance.

You may also want to read…

PMC Bank: Depositors Pay for Poor Supervision, Dubious Management

PMC Bank: If RBI had bothered about “Fit & Proper” Check, How did it Ignore the Wadhwan and HDIL Connection

While RBI Acts Strict about Giving New Banking Licence, How Was a Director of HDIL Group Controlling PMC Bank?

HDIL Submitted PMC Bank Pay Orders Worth Rs96.50 Crore to Bank of India for OTS

PMC Bank: Rs2,000 crore in Deposits of Hundreds of Co-operative Housing Societies Stuck; Accounts Inoperative

Comments

User

spicesich

2 years ago

LET US FORM" A BAD COOP BANK" EXCLUSIVELY FOR COOP SECTOR AS MANY COOPERATIVE BANKS ARE IN LINE. SO BEFORE THE POOR (NOT FINANCIALLY) DEPOSITORS GET STUCK HE WILL GET HIS DUES WITHOUT MUCH DIFFICULTY.
IT SHOULD BE BASED CENTRALLY ,OTHERWISE STATE WISE BAD BANK WILL VANISH IN NO TIME.

spicesich

2 years ago

spicesich

2 years ago

kalemohan

2 years ago

Now what about Rupee co-operative bank,PUNE,as well as PEN CO OPERATIVE BANK,PEN.These banks are also in hold for many years due to RBI decision pending.

totalinsight7

2 years ago

The unseen nefarious perpetrators of the massive PMC Bank scam could be using Centrum Financial Services as its Trojan Horse to escape being named , shamed and prosecuted by the long (read 'short' in the Indian context) hands of law. The gullible Indian public is merely fed with Wadhawan's role in the scam. The unseen beneficiaries of the loot beyond the Wadhawans are mysteriously still at large. Centrum Financial Services's entry into PMC could well be a getaway vehicle for these powerful nefarious unseen beneficiaries. The shudder is in the fact that this could well be with the full knowledge and approval of the powers that be in this country. Centrum's proposal requires thorough public scrutiny.

yerramr

2 years ago

This is not certainly the way to convert a UCB to a small finance bank. A bad precedent.

yerramr

2 years ago

This is not certainly the way to convert a UCB to a small finance bank. A bad precedent.