The HDFC Bank on Monday confirmed that Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed it to conduct an internal inquiry into the leakage of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) related to financial figures of some companies including the bank through WhatsApp messages. Sebi on Friday had asked HDFC bank to launch a probe into the same and also said that such a leakage of sensitive information shows inadequacy of the controls & systems and processes that HDFC Bank, a listed company, follows. The market regulator had also asked the bank to ensure any such leak doesn’t take place in future.
Sebi vide its order date 23 February, 2018 had asked HDFC bank to complete the probe within three months and trace people involved in the leak and also take appropriate action against them. HDFC Bank in an intimation on National Stock Exchange (NSE) that was posted today said that Sebi has asked it to submit a report on the chronology of events that lead to the leakage of the financial results of companies on WhatsApp for the quarter that ended 30 June, 2017.
On July 21, a WhatsApp post that went viral showed HDFC’s Bank gross non performing assets (NPA) to be 1.25 percent which were actually recorded to be 1.24 percent later on July 24. In the same way, net profit of bank was posted at Rs 3,900 crore on WhatsApp while the actual net profit was recorded at Rs 3,893.84 crore later on.