Indian Regulator Says Axis Results Leaked, Orders Lender To Investigate
India’s market regulator ordered Axis Bank on Wednesday to conduct an internal investigation into a suspected leak of financial information and to strengthen its handling of such data, as part of a probe into messages about company results being circulated on private WhatsApp groups.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order comes after Reuters reported last month that Axis Bank was among 12 companies where messages about quarterly results or other key financial details had circulated through private WhatsApp chatrooms before their official release.
The information on Axis Bank, which included key metrics on bad loans and net interest margins, “were either identical or matched closely with the figures” except for one metric, the regulator said in the order, published on...