ICICI Bank says management not offloading company shares

Mumbai/New Delhi, Sep 17 : India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank Wednesday said its top management members have not sold any shares during the current year.

The bank's statement came following market rumours that some top members of ICICI Bank have been selling shares of the bank following the recent crisis in the global financial markets.

'These rumours are baseless and irresponsible, and no shares have been sold by members of the top management during the current year,' the bank said.

The bank added that it would take up the issue with regulatory authorities for necessary action against those responsible for the rumours.

ICICI Bank Tuesday announced that it had not been impacted much by the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection Monday.

ICICI, through its London-based subsidiary, has around 57 million euros (USD 80.7 million) exposure in senior bonds of Lehman Brothers, which constitutes less than one percent of ICICI Bank UK plc's total assets and 0.1 percent of the ICICI group.

The shares of the bank tumbled by over 5 percent in the BSE Wednesday after falling 10.4 percent during intra-day trading.

--IANS