March 14, 2013

Press Release No. 1

News about Axis Bank Limited, ICICI Bank Limited and HDFC Bank Limited

The media had reports that major Indian private sector banks are involved in Money laundering activities.

The Exchange, in order to verify the accuracy or otherwise of the information reported in the media and to inform the market place so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded, had written to the Banks.

Axis Bank Limited has vide its letter inter-alia stated, "Axis Bank has systems and processes that are robust and fully compliant with extant regulations. We will examine whatever information that is brought to our notice and investigate thoroughly. The Bank has built a strong customer franchise over the years and maintains high corporate governance standards. Any deviations to such standards are viewed very seriously. Best practices across businesses are followed by the Bank and we are confident that all our businesses will live up to the high standards we have set for ourselves as a Bank."

ICICI Bank Limited has vide its letter inter-alia stated, "ICICI Group conducts its business with the highest level of compliance to legal and regulatory requirements. All employees of the Group are trained and required to adhere strictly to the Group Code of Conduct, including AML and KYC norms. We have demonstrated our commitment to this by following a zero tolerance policy towards any violation. We are deeply concerned with the media reports. We want to assure our customers and all our other stakeholders that we are committed towards adherence to the high standards of business conduct, which is expected of us. We have constituted a high level inquiry committee to investigate into the matter and submit its findings in 2 weeks."

HDFC Bank Limited has vide its letter inter-alia stated, "We would like to assure you that the Bank has always adhered to the compliance standards in line with its Corporate Governance philosophy. Accordingly the Bank has in place relevant systems and procedures to ensure compliance with all the applicable regulatory requirements. The matters referred to in the news item are also being investigated into separately and we shall arrange to release the findings of the investigations at the earliest."