ICICI Bank sacks 5 officials

ICICI Bank has suspended its three middle level officials from the treasury division dealing in forex, and two from the back office operations, in an incident involving the breach of trading limits, leading to a loss to the bank. This is the first case of suspension after the merger of ICICI and ICICI Bank.

"The middle level traders overstepped limits. The back office, which has on line access to the trading platform could have been more attentive for taking proactive steps," Mor said.

The incident happened in early August, and the overstepping of limits of these traders was detected by automated monitoring systems.

The bank has informed the banking sector regulator, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about the breach and taken action against the officials, ICICI Bank Executive Director, Nachiket Mor said today. The amount lost is less than Rs 1 crore.

Mor said that the bank had already instituted an enquiry into the incident. Further course of action would depend on the findings. Prima facie, the bank would have to assume that the breach of limits was a deliberate action and outcome of neglect. 

Explaining the rationale behind the suspension, Mor said "We wanted to send out strong signals. Such breaches are not acceptable and traders should know the limits and follow the code of conduct." The bank does issue warnings and remove the traders out of treasury for breaches.

The ICICI Bank treasury has over 120 traders, who deal in bonds, foreign exchange, securities and equities daily. The trading limits are set for each trader based on many factors, including the nature of the financial product and their experience.

The daily turnover of the treasury of the bank is Rs 3,000 crore.