India RBI chief flags governance gaps, stressed assets misreporting at banks

> "During the course of our supervisory process, certain instances of using innovative ways to conceal the real status of stressed loans have also come to our notice," Shaktikanta Das said during his inaugural address to directors of banks at a conference organised by the RBI.

> Das did not name any bank. Instead, citing examples, the governor said that supervisors had spotted some instances of sale and buyback of stressed loans between two lenders, structured deals with good borrowers to conceal stress and disbursement of new loans close to the time of repayment.

It is amazing how the banking industry goes to such extents to conceal weaknesses in their balance sheet. When enough critical mass of banks do this, we get systemic failures like bank runs.

The only silver lining is that the RBI (India's central bank) caught this as part of their regulatory/supervisory activities.