UCO Bank has asked to initiate corrective measures to contain bad loans. The RBI has issued a directive to the bank asking it to take prompt corrective action on some of its business activities, which have high level of bad loans. The bank, in a filing to the stock exchanges, said it is taking action and the RBI directive does not have any material impact on its performance. The RBI curbs will be on lending and branch expansion plans. The bank has reported losses for two successive financial years and had impaired assets. UCO Bank is the second bank to come under RBI restriction after the regulator had placed restrictions on IBDI Bank. UCO Bank’s gross non-performing loans stood at Rs 22,541 crore at the end of FY2017, which was 17.1% of total advances. The NPA ratio of 8.94% was one of the poorest in the industry.
