CBI:Bankers have defended the loans given to companies

Bankers have defended the Bank loans given to companies named in the CBI charge sheet in connection to the bribes for loan scam saying these were performing Bank loans and were sanctioned after due process.In its chargesheet, the CBI had named officials from the Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and even a board member of Central Bank of India for allegedly accepting bribes to sanction loans, causing worries that the loans were sanctioned to non-credit worthy borrowers.
However, the bankers contended that loans cannot be sanctioned by any single officer and their processes ensure that all loans are sanctioned after proper due diligence.

The chief of the Indian Banks Association and chairman of India's largest public sector bank also agreed that it was not a systematic failure."It is not a systemic risk issue, this is not something where something has happened on a very wide scale. All banks have policy procedures in place for risk management or risk assessment and I believe that all banks are always fairly prudent in all these procedures of assessment and that will continue.however, the issue may mean that it may take more time for loans to be sanctioned from now on. Both the Finance Ministry and RBI have asked the banks mentioned in the CBI report to disclose just how much was granted as loans by the arrested officials.