Kerala becomes first total banking state

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has been declared as the first 'total banking state' in India successfully completing the campaign for total finanical inclusion plan (FIP) ensuring banking facility to all families. The declaration was made as every household in all the 14 districts in the state having at least one bank account and the facility for need-based credit. The "State Level Bankers' Committee" ,a joint forum of major banks operating in the state, with the support of state government had been working for the last four years to bring banking...

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ICICI asked to pay Rs 4,000 compensation to credit card holder

Thane: The Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (TDCDRF) has come down heavily on ICICI for its failure to cooperate with it in a case and gave an ex-parte order asking the bank to pay a compensation of Rs 4,000 to the aggrieved credit card holder. In its order the Forum President M G Rahatgaonkar and member Jyoti Iyer observed that the bank had returned the notice sent by the forum to it. In view of this, it ordered a payment of Rs 2,000 for mental torture to the complainant and a sum of Rs 2000 as legal expenses. The case relates...

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SBI's server crash leaves customers in a spot

KOLKATA: State Bank of India said it will remain open on Sunday to help customers in West Bengal withdraw money before the Durga Puja. SBI's central server crashed on Saturday leaving thousands of its customers in Kolkata in a fix before the Durga Puja. There was massive rush at all its major branches and ATM counters in Kolkata as customers queued up for withdrawing money on Saturday, the last day of branch banking before Puja holiday begins. Banks in Bengal will remain closed the next five days till Thursday on account of the festival. Durga...

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RBI OK's Reliance Cap's RL stake sale

Mumbai: The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's (ADAG) financial services arm Reliance Capital today said it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its proposed 26 per cent stake sale in Reliance Life Insurance to Japan's Nippon Life. The company had signed a definitive agreement to sell a 26 per cent stake in Reliance Life Insurance to Nippon Life Insurance for Rs 3,062 crore earlier this year. The deal was subject to regulatory approvals. The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has already granted in-principle...

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ING Vysya Bank raises lending rates by 25 bps

NEW DELHI: Private sector ING Vysya Bank on Friday increased its lending rates by 25 basis points, making all kinds of its loans expensive. The bank raised base rate or the minimum lending rate by 25 basis points to 10.45 per cent from existing 10.20 per cent, ING Vysya Bank said in a statement. At the same time, the benchmark prime lending rate of the bank has also been raised by 25 basis points to 19 per cent from 18.75 per cent, it said. Home loan reference rate has also been increased by 25 basis points to 19.50 per cent. The new rates will...

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Hitachi ties up with SBI, Axis Bank for cash deposit ATMs

NEW DELHI: Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions Corp (HOTS) of Japan on Thursday said it has tied up with two leading banks, State Bank of India ( SBI) and Axis Bank, to install cash deposit ATMs across the country. The two-in-one ATM's are revolutionary in nature as it eliminates the need to visit bank branches for simple tasks like making cash deposits which get directly credited to your account, printing your passbook and numerous other banking services without compromising on time, HOTS said in a statement. These simple self-service functions will...

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Axis Bank rolls out lifetime fixed rate home loan

MUMBAI: Axis Bank, a late entrant to home loans, has launched a lifetime fixed rate home loan at an interest rate of 11.75% for a 20-year tenure. This is the cheapest fixed rate loan available in the market and is 250 basis points lower than the fixed rate product being offered by the bank till now. Most banks charge 13-13.5% interest for fixed rate home loans. Axis Bank is aiming to woo customers uneasy over rising interest rates. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised policy rates 12 times since March 2010. The repo rate, or the rate at which...

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Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit sees no repeat of 2008 crisis, confident on euro zone: Report

SINGAPORE: Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said the current turmoil in the global financial markets will not be a repeat of the 2008 downturn, Singapore newspapers reported on Friday. Pandit told local media in an interview on the sideline of the bank's board meeting in the city-state that there is enough capital and liquidity in the global banking system to withstand the market volatility. "The world's banking system is in a very different place than it was in 2008," he was quoted by the Straits Times as saying. "Capital levels are high in the Asian...

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Banks acquire 60% stake in Trident microfin

Various banks have taken control of Hyderabad-based microfinance firm Trident Microfin by acquiring a majority stake in the firm, leaving promoter and chief executive Kishore Kumar Puli with a stake of only 4.2 per cent. As many as 20 banks, including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank of India, have together acquired over 60 per cent stake in the microfinance company by converting a part of its debts into equity shares. The remaining stake in the company is held by institutional investors Bellwether...

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Axis offers fixed home loan @11.75% - 'NISHCHINT'

Mumbai: Private sector Axis Bank today launched a new home loan product, that offers fixed interest rate of 11.75 per cent, to cash in on the busy festival season demand. The bank launched 'NISHCHINT' lifetime fixed interest home loan scheme which offers home buyers loans at a fixed rate of 11.75 per cent for the entire duration of the loan that is up to 20 years, Axis Bank said in a statement. Under the scheme, the bank will offer home loan to eligible buyers up to 85 per cent of loan-to-value for debt up to 20 lakh and 80 per cent loan-to-value...

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Deutsche Bank to boost mortgage book

Deutsche Bank plans to nearly double its mortgage book in India to Rs 3,000 crore by the end of next year. The move is in line with the bank's strategy to maintain its focus on secured assets, following the sale of its credit cards business earlier this year. The mortgage book, which is currently estimated at Rs 1,800 crore, comprises Rs 1,450 crore of home loans and Rs 350 crore of loans against property. Deutsche Bank currently lends Rs 80 crore of these loans every month. The average size of the loans is in the range of Rs 70-75 lakh. “We have...

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Fiscal consolidation crucial for 9% growth: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said the growth target of nine per cent envisaged for the 12th Five-Year Plan can be achieved only if inflation is brought down, and supply-side issues in agriculture are resolved. "Without bringing inflation down from the current level, it would be difficult to sustain a high level of growth. This would require greater monetary-fiscal coordination and the alleviation of supply constraints, particularly in agriculture," said RBI executive director Deepak Mohanty. Mohanty said achieving nine per cent growth between...

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Bank of Maharashtra ups lending rates by up to 25 bps

State-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) today increased its lending rates by up to 25 basis points (bps), making all kinds of loans expensive. The bank raised base rate or the minimum lending rate by 20 bps to 10.70% from existing 10.50%, BoM said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). At the same time, the benchmark prime lending rate of the bank has also been raised by 25 bps to 15% from 14.75%, it said. The new rates will be effective from October 1, it said. It is expected that other banks would follow suit since the Reserve Bank of...

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Bad loans to hit banks' Q2 nos

MUMBAI A fully-automated system of bad loan calculation may reflect a spike in non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks and weigh on profitability in the second quarter, industry experts said. The finance ministry has asked all state-run banks to fully computerise calculation of stressed loans by September 2011. Until now, lenders calculated bad loans manually. This may result in higher bad loans and force the lenders, already pressured by poor credit demand and rising yields on treasury portfolio, to set aside a greater portion of profits as provisions....

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Banks smell profit by borrowing from Reserve Bank of India's repo window

MUMBAI: Banks are seeing an arbitraging opportunity by borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India and investing in higher yielding short-term instruments like one-month certificate of deposits and one-month commercial papers. In the current market, one month certificate of deposits are now traded at 9.20% while onemonth commercial papers are being traded at 9.50%. On the other hands, banks can borrow from RBI's repo window at 8.25% on an overnight basis against government securities. The traded volumes in the CD market also jumped to Rs 12,434 crore...

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Double-dip recession: Rescue is is cbanks' job, says RBI

New York: Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao has said that fears of double-dip recession have resurfaced and monetary authorities will have to deal with the global economic problems. The burden of combating recession through monetary stimulus will fall on central banks, Subbarao said while addressing the Stern School of Business, New York University here. "Over the last few months, fears of double-dip recession have resurfaced, and governments in advanced countries are locked in a policy logjam over the balance between short-term fiscal stimulus...

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IBA may submit comments on pre-payment by Sept-end: RBI

The Reserve Bank (RBI) today said the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) is expected to submit comments by the end of this month on the proposal to do away with pre-payment charges on home loans. "IBA is expected to submit comments on pre-payment by the end of this month," RBI Chief General Manager and Banking Ombudsman (New Delhi) M Rajeshwar Rao said here. After receiving the comments, the RBI will go through it and take a final call on the pre-payment charges on loans taken under floating rates by customers, he said. Earlier this month, the Banking...

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L&T on banking licence: 25% rural branches may not be viable

L&T group, a serious contender for a new banking licence, today expressed doubts over the viability of new banks having 25% of their branches in rural areas as prescribed in the RBI draft guidelines. L&T Finance Holdings also asserted that the company would consider definitely the prospect of entering the banking space. "It is not easy to say that rural branches are viable or not. Is there any other mode of servicing the rural clients without the normal brick and mortar banks? These are areas that we really need to work on," L&T Finance...

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FirstRand to open India retail bank

South Africa's FirstRand plans to start a retail banking business in India in December, the Business Day newspaper said on Tuesday. FirstRand, South Africa's second-largest bank, already has a full commercial banking licence in India, and a presence in Mumbai. It will become the first African lender to start retail banking in the Asian country, the newspaper said. "India's gross domestic product grew 7.5% in the second quarter of this year and is expected to maintain growth at similar levels for decades to come. Compared with South Africa's long-run...

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Mobile payments market expected to touch $245 bn by 2014: E&Y

New York: Billed as the future of banking, the value of financial transactions carried out through mobile phones has been pegged at USD 245 billion worldwide by 2014 in a new report by global consultancy firm Ernst & Young. "Overall, mobile payment services are expected to reach USD 245 billion in value worldwide by 2014," according to the report by Ernst and Young (E&Y). At the same time, the number of users carrying out transactions using mobile money is expected to total 340 million by 2014, equivalent to 5 per cent of existing mobile...

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StanChart slashes Indian rupee rating

Mumbai: Standard Chartered (StanChart) Bank said on Monday it had lowered the short-term rating on Indian rupee to neutral from overweight as a massive deterioration in global sentiment has outweighed signs of stability in domestic inflation. The possibility of a difficult transition for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from inflation to growth risks if economic sentiment worsens in advanced economies meant more pressure on rupee, the bank said in a research note. In the mid-quarter review on Sept. 16, the RBI said it was too soon to ease back...

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Man sentenced to jail, fined for bounced cheque

Bijnor: A man was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs one lakh was imposed on him by a local court here in a dishonoured cheque case. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Manisha held Rishi Pal guilty on Saturday after a case was filed by Pitambar Singh, Managing Director of Pantjan Sadbhavna Finance and Investment Company Private Limited, prosecution sources said here. Singh had filed the suit against Pal, who had taken a loan of Rs 62,000 from his company to purchase a jeep for his son, they said. The cheque of the amount...

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Exim Bank to raise at least Rs 2.5 bn via bonds

MUMBAI: Export Import Bank of India ( Exim Bank) plans to raise at least Rs 2.5 billion through 10-year bonds at 9.38 percent, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday. Axis Bank, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership and Nomura are some of investors in the deal, the sources said. The pay-in date for the issue is Thursday, the sources said. Source: Economic Ti...

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Worsening financial crisis: Global financial firms like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nomura, UBS, HSBC cutting jobs in India

MUMBAI: Global financial companies have begun cutting jobs in India as the worsening financial crisis in the West dims business outlook, forcing companies to scrap fund-raising and M&A plans. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nomura, UBS and HSBC are among the companies sacking employees in the third wave of financial market job cuts since the Asian crisis of 1997. More than 200 have been laid off in investment banking in the past few weeks in corporate banking and retail divisions as the banks strive to remain meaningful amidst a general slowdown....

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