The State Bank of India has sought permission from the US regulators to hire the services of Ernst & Young and Arthur Anderson for reviewing the bank operations and carrying the internal audits. This follows regulatory action by the US Federal Reserve and other authorities against India's largest commercial bank.

One of the two firms will succeed Deloitte & Touche, the existing auditor for SBI-US, while the other will conduct the review exercise.

The bank had to pay a penalty of $7.5 million after the US authorities put a question mark on SBIs transactions in several nostro and escrow accounts. The order relates to SBI's Broad way branch in New York, Park Avenue Branch, Flushing Branch in New York and the bank's offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.

However the bank claims to have not broken any law and there are no allegations of money laundering. However, the bank will have to revamp its antiquated systems to live up to US regulatory requirements which have become all the more stringent currently.