Sebi imposes fine of Rs 10 lakh on ICICI Bank, Rs 2 lakh on Sandeep Batra over disclosure lapses

New Delhi:  Securities and Exchange Board of India has imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on ICICI Bank and its then compliance officer Sandeep Batra for over delayed disclosure regarding its amalgamation with Bank of Rajasthan(eBoR) on May 18, 2010.

The SEBI notice said that the agreement between ICICI Bank and Bank of Rajasthan was executed  at 04:30 AM on May 18, 2010 but the disclosure of the agreement was made by ICICI Bank at 8:18 p.m to BSE and at 8:10 p.m to NSE, respectively – after 15 hours of occurrence of the event which also means after a delay of one full trading day.

The price sensitive information was required to be disclosed immediately upon the same coming into existence, SEBI contended.

Sebi said that it is suspected that the delay on the part of ICICI Bank in making the disclosure of the agreement resulted in insider trading in the scrip of BoR.

Sebi added that Sandeep Batra being then Compliance officer of ICICI Bank and also being aware of the developments regarding the signing of the Binding Agreement, failed to ensure that ICICI Bank complies with the requirements of making immediate and continuous disclosures regarding Binding agreement to the stock exchanges.

Meanwhile, ICICI Bank said that it is presently evaluating the order and would take  appropriate steps accordingly.