‘No communication from SEC on Chanda Kochhar’
ICICI Bank on Monday said it has not received any “specific communication” from US markets regulator SEC with regard to allegations involving the lender’s chief Chanda Kochhar and her family members.
The bank’s response was sought by stock exchanges regarding a report that the matter of alleged lapses involving Kochhar has come under the scanner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“...the Bank has so far not received any specific communication from the US SEC in relation to the allegations in respect of the Managing Director and CEO of the Bank,” it said in a late evening filing.
As a large and internationally active bank with operations and listing of its equity and debt instruments in multiple jurisdictions, the bank is regularly engaged with regulators, including the US SEC, on a range of matters, it added.
According to sources, the SEC has received complaints from institutional investors in the US to look into the matter related to corporate governance and disclosure issues.
A notice may be issued soon, they added.
Indian regulators and investigative agencies are mulling seeking help from their overseas counterparts, including in Mauritius, as part of their own probes, sources said.
Those looking into the matter include the RBI and the Corporate Affairs Ministry, while the CBI had earlier registered a preliminary enquiry against Kochhar's husband, among others, and extensively questioned her brother-in-law in April. The cases under scanner include the bank’s ~3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012 and the involvement of the Kochhar family members in the restructuring of the loan.
Last week, Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the law would take its own course in the case.