Five banks may be put under RBI's prompt corrective action(PCA) plan

  

Canara bank and Union Bank of India are among five public sector banks that might be put under the Reserve Bank of India's prompt corrective action plan. According to ICRA ratings show the net non-performing assets (NPAs) of these five banks rose above 6 per cent in December 2017.

If the banking regulator places them under PCA, the action may drive these banks to recall additional tier-1 (AT-1) bonds, which is included in Tier-1 capital, of Rs 157 billion from investors.Apart from Canara bank and Union bank, the other PSBs that might come under PCA are Andhra Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Punjab & Sind Bank.

According to ICRA, over the past 4 years, PSBs have raised AT-I bonds totalling Rs. 603851 crore to shore-up their Tier-I capital ratios in the backdrop of losses, increasing capital requirements under Basel III and limited capital infusion by the Government of India (GoI) in relation to their requirements. "Inclusion in PCA, coupled with recapitalisation of PSBs by the government has triggered a 'regulatory event' and an early recall of AT-I bonds" by these banks, says the report. 

RBI earlier stated that the PCA framework was intended to encourage banks to eschew certain riskier activities and focus on conserving capital so that their balance sheets can become stronger. The PCA framework would apply without exception to all banks operating in India, including small banks and foreign banks, operating through branches or subsidiaries based on breach of risk thresholds of identified indicators.

A bank will be placed under the PCA framework based on the audited Annual Financial Results and the Supervisory Assessment made by RBI. Last year in December, RBI initiated PCA against Bank of India (BOI) for mounting of bad loans placing various restriction on the bank including issuance of fresh loans and dividend distribution. The BoI would not be alone to face the RBI action as there are nine other such banks, mostly state-owned banks, for having higher stressed assets. They include IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, United Bank of India, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce. In June 2017, RBI gave similar clarifications while initiating banks under the PCA framework.