



The compliance curve: Banks turn a corner in FY26, pay lower penalties in FY26 as adherence improves
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: Banks in India seem to have become more compliant with regulatory norms in FY26, with the quantum of penalties imposed by the central bank declining by about 37% over the previous financial year, data compiled by Mint showed.The Reserve Bank of India imposed monetary penalties of ₹19.8 crore on commercial banks in FY26, as against ₹31.4 crore in FY25, even as the number of penalties remained unchanged at 35. The data is based on fines announced on the RBI website.The most common violations included failure to comply with KYC (know your customer) norms, not categorizing customers on the basis of risk, allotting multiple customer IDs instead of a unique one, and not transferring unclaimed deposits to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund.While the failure to transfer unclaimed deposits and categorize risks point to negligence, other violations—such as sanctioning loans with a director's relative as guarantor and declaring dividends without prior RBI permission—raise more serious concerns.The decline in the RBI’s monetary penalties on commercial banks indicates continuous improvement in regulatory compliance outcomes over the years, said Saurabh Bhalerao, associate director of banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) at CareEdge Ratings.“Over the years, based on feedback and market practices, there is better understanding among the regulated entities of the specific actions to be taken to be able to meet the regulatory requirements.