India cbank asks banks to disclose troubled exposure
Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:28am EDT
reuters.com
MUMBAI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - India's central bank, concerned over the crisis in overseas markets, has asked commercial banks to provide data on their exposure to "troubled financial entities", two newspapers said on Thursday.
The central bank has asked banks to furnish details of their exposure to Wachovia Corporation (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Fortis (FOR.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), American International Group Inc (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Washington Mutual (WM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the mint and Economic Times newspapers said.
"We have sent letters to the chief executive officers of all banks seeking information on their exposure to the troubled financial entities," a senior Reserve Bank of India official said, according to the mint.
The mint said the central bank was also planning a special audit of ICICI Bank (ICBK.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the country's largest private sector bank, to assess whether it has any exposure to these entities and the possible impact on its profit and loss account.
On Tuesday, the central bank joined ICICI Bank to reassure investors and customers about the financial health of India's second biggest lender, saying ICICI was well capitalised and has enough cash to meet depositor demand.
Separately, the Economic Times reported that some large foreign institutional investors (FIIs) told the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country's stock market regulator, that they have not been aggressively short-selling ICICI's stock.
At a meeting convened by SEBI Chairman C.B. Bhave, quite a few of the FIIs said they had been buying ICICI's stock, the Economic Times quoted a person familiar with the development as saying.
ICICI Bank's shares ended up 3.1 percent at 551.45 rupees on Wednesday after hitting its lowest in more than two years on Tuesday. The markets are shut on Thursday for a local holiday.
(Reporting by V. Ramakrishnan; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) |
