Fraud-hit PNB targets over 10% growth in FY19 to $180 billion, outlines steps to prevent frauds

New Delhi: Fraud-hit lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) said on Sunday it aimed to expand its total business 10.8 percent to 12 trillion rupees ($180 billion) in the year to March 2019 and outlined steps to prevent more such frauds. The second-largest state-run bank in February disclosed that two jewellery groups had defrauded it of more than $2 billion by raising credit from overseas branches of other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff at a Mumbai branch over several years. While investigation continues into what has been called the biggest fraud in India’s banking history, PNB said after a board meeting that it had strengthened the process of underwriting credit to minimise the possibility of fraud. [caption id=“attachment_4409049” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Punjab National Bank. Reuters image.[/caption] The New Delhi-headquartered bank will split the process of credit underwriting into four divisions with different employees focused on sourcing, appraisal, process and underwriting, documentation and disbursement, and recovery, it said in a statement. The bank will also rely more on an off-site monitoring mechanism and reduce its dependence on physical inspection and audit to identify risks, it added. PNB has constituted a specialised stressed-assets management vertical for early identification of bad loans, the bank said. India’s banks, already burdened by a 9.5 trillion-rupee soured-loan mountain as of last year, are staring at a further rise in bad loans after the central bank tightened rules earlier this year.