The share price of Punjab National Bank dropped as much as 5.9 per cent in early trade after the bank disclosed that it had found fraudulent transactions worth $1.7 billion dollars at one of its branches in Mumbai.

PNB has not revealed the people involved but said the fraudulent transactions benefitted select account holders. “The bank has detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) in one of its branch in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance. Based on these transactions other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad,” the bank said in its BSE filing.

Punjab National Bank has informed law enforcement agencies about the fraudulent deals. The bank said it would decide on any liability arising out of these transactions.

“The matter was already referred to law enforcement agencies to examine and book the culprits as per law of the land. The bank is committed to clean and transparent banking,” PNB said.