ICICI Bank informs exchanges of inadvertent trade by designated person

ICICI Bank on Saturday informed the stock exchanges of an inadvertent trade by its Independent Director Rama Bijapurkar. “We reliably understand from our Independent Director, Rama Bijapurkar that her independent financial adviser purchased 4,900 equity shares of the bank in her account without prior intimation to her when the trading window was closed - on January 5, 2022,” the private sector lender said in a stock exchange filing, adding that the Audit Committee of the Bank was notified of this incident. Based on Bijapurkar’s submission, it is concluded that this was an inadvertent trade made without any intent to violate the Bank’s Code on Prohibition of Insider Trading or the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (SEBI Regulations), it further said. However, a penalty of ₹2 lakh has been imposed on Bijapurkar upon confirmation by the Audit Committee at its meeting held Saturday, the bank said. The amount will be remitted to Investor Protection Education Fund (IPEF) in accordance with the SEBI Regulations. Bijapurkar had through a letter on January 20 resigned from the Board of ICICI Bank with effect from January 23, 2022, due to a potential conflict of interest. “Bijapurkar in her letter has also confirmed that there is no other material reason for her resignation other than the one mentioned in the resignation letter,” the lender had said in a previous stock exchange filing on January 21. “I have recently been given to understand by management that my teaching activity in the area of the market and business strategy at an educational institution with which I am associated and my research activities on India’s consumer economy at a not for profit research centre with which I am associated, which may require me to occasionally engage with other financial service companies or the investor community, could be in violation of the conflict of interest policy of the Bank and the regulator- even in the event of no direct remuneration being earned,” she had said in her letter. In order to avoid any possible ambiguity in her position at any future date as a result of these activities, she had decided to step down, she had further said.