Prez Kovind’s ordinance brings co-op banks under RBI

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ President Ram Nath Kovind has promulgated the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 to bring all urban cooperative banks and multi-state cooperative banks under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India in order to protect the interest of depositors. The Ordinance amends the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as applicable to cooperative banks, an official statement said on Saturday.

‘The Ordinance seeks to protect the interests of depositors and strengthen cooperative banks by improving governance and oversight by extending powers already available with RBI in respect of other banks to Co-operative Banks as well for sound banking regulation, and by ensuring professionalism and enabling their access to capital,’ it said.

The amendments do not affect existing powers of the State Registrars of Co-operative Societies under state co-operative laws, it added. There are 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state cooperative banks having about 8.6 crore depositors with total savings deposit of about Rs 4.85 lakh crore.