Dena Bank waives home loan processing fee

Public sector lender Dena Bank has followed its peers by waiving the entire processing fee for home and car loans.For personal and gold loans, it has reduced the fee by half.This comes after the country’s largest bank State Bank of India reduced its processing fee on home and car loans by half.Dena Bank has also extended 50 per cent concession in processing fee for its Dena Trade Finance Scheme and Dena Doctor+ scheme under which credit facilities up to Rs 2 crore are extended within the eligibility criteria of the scheme, the bank said in...

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Muthoot Finance wins award

Muthoot Finance Ltd has received the Golden Peacock Award for ‘Excellence in Corporate Governance’ for the year 2012 in London.The award ceremony hosted by Institute of Directors (IOD) at the London Global Convention 2012 was given on the basis of recommendations of the jury headed by Justice P.N. Bhagawati, former Chief Justice of India and member of the UN Human Rights Commission.M.G. George, chairman, Muthoot group, said in a statement, “The main guiding principles of our company are trust, ethics, values, reliability, dependability, integrity...

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SBI opens 2 more branches in South Africa

State Bank of India has opened two more branches in South Africa, one in Chatsworth and the other in Laudium (Pretoria).India’s largest bank already has five branches in South Africa — Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Lenasia.SBI, with its own ATM cards and internet banking facility, is the first and only international bank to start retail operations in South Africa, the bank said in a statement.According to Geevarghese Vaidyan, Regional Head (Africa), SBI, the increasing trade between India and South Africa, growing political...

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Karnataka Bank Q2 net zooms on improved interest spread

An increase in interest spread and a reduced provisioning for non-performing assets helped Karnataka Bank register a 185.27 per cent growth in net profit for the second quarter of 2012-13.Speaking to newspersons here on Wednesday, the Bank’s Managing Director, P. Jayarama Bhat, attributed this to the growth in operating profit, interest spread and to lower provisioning for NPAs.The bank recorded a net profit of Rs 117.19 in the second quarter of this fiscal against Rs 41.08 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, registering...

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No funds given to Robert Vadra, says Corporation Bank CMD

Corporation Bank Chairman and Managing Director Ajai Kumar on Thursday said no funds by way of loan or overdraft has been given to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.Replying to a question as to whether the public sector bank had given over Rs 7.5 crore to Vadra, who is currently embroiled in a controversy over a real estate deal with housing major DLF Group in Haryana, he reiterated the bank’s position: “We have already denied it. There is nothing new to add. We don’t have any documents whatsoever...

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IOB to recruit 387 specialist officers

Indian Overseas Bank is recruiting 387 specialist officers. About 337 of these posts will be for agricultural field officers in the junior management grade (Scale-I).Candidates, who have taken the common written examination for the recruitment of specialist officers conducted by IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) on March 11, 2012 and obtained a valid score, are eligible to apply.The minimum cut-off marks for candidates for the post of agricultural field officers has been fixed at 112.For Rajbhasha Adhikari (10 posts), it is fixed...

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Oriental Bank of Commerce CFO

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has a new Chief Financial Officer in C.M. Khurana.Khurana has replaced R.L.Agarwal, who had recently superannuated.Prior to this elevation, Khurana was General Manager with the bank.Khurana is now heading the large corporate credit and accounts department of the bank. He has also been designated as Chief General Manager.OBC has also designated its senior most General Manager Sheel Kumar Sharma as Chief General Manager.Sheel Kumar Sharma joined the services of the bank in 1974 and now heads the human resources...

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SBI halves processing fee on home, auto loans

State Bank of India (SBI) today reduced the processing fee on home and auto loans by 50 per cent to cash in on festive season demand.This offer is applicable on loans availed from October 17 to December 31, SBI said in a statement.“With this reduction, the bank is quoting the lowest processing fee on both home and auto loans to our esteemed customers,” it said.For home loans up to Rs 25 lakh, the processing charge has become 0.125 per cent of the loan amount from 0.25 per cent, it said.In case of loans between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, the...

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Karnataka Bank Q2 net zooms on improved interest spread

An increase in interest spread and a reduced provisioning for non-performing assets helped Karnataka Bank register a 185.27 per cent growth in net profit for the second quarter of 2012-13.Speaking to newspersons here on Wednesday, the Bank’s Managing Director, P. Jayarama Bhat, attributed this to the growth in operating profit, interest spread and to lower provisioning for NPAs.The bank recorded a net profit of Rs 117.19 in the second quarter of this fiscal against Rs 41.08 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, registering...

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SBI drops ‘service area’ norm for education loan

State Bank of India has decided not to stick to the ‘service area’ approach while dispensing education loans. No loan application should be rejected without valid grounds, an e-circular dispatched to branches in the Kerala circle said. PROPER DISPOSAL The circular reminded branches that instructions regarding time-bound disposal of educational loan application had already been sent to them.Accordingly, no application must be rejected without concurrence of the next higher authority.Branches also need to record reasons for rejection and...

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Karnataka, Kotak, ICICI banks deny reports on takeover

Karnataka Bank Ltd, which is in news in a section of the media as a takeover target, has denied any such moves. ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have also denied any such moves of acquiring.On different occasions, a section of the media reported that these two banks were looking to acquire Karnataka Bank.In an announcement on the NSE on Tuesday, Karnataka Bank said: “We deny any such rumours as reported in the media. The investors may note the same.”When contacted, Managing Director of the bank P. Jayarama Bhat denied such moves.A few months...

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IRDA frowns on camouflaging additional remuneration to master policyholders

Master policyholders must not be enticed with reimbursement of expenses apart from the promised commission, says the insurance watchdog IRDA in its circular of October 5.First, the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) had imposed a hefty penalty of Rs 70 lakh on July 8, 2011, on SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd for remunerating the master policyholders, bulk of whom were its own banking brethren belonging to the larger SBI group such as State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Indore, and so on with payments towards management...

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IDBI Bank now live on Google Maps

IDBI Bank launched its geotagging initiative to enable the customers to search for the nearest IDBI bank branch or ATM on Google Maps through an application hosted on its website.This search facility available on the public sector bank's website will help the customers of the Bank to get the location, facilities available within the branch, direction on how to reach the particular branch (map and milestone description), bank said in a statement.Customers of the bank can locate over 998 branches and 1,592 ATMs of IDBI Bank across India and UAE...

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SBI Life to soon launch series of Plans

SBI Life will soon be launching a host of plans across savings, protection and pension platforms.The products have been filed with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for approval, SBI Life said in a statement.Atanu Sen, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, SBI Life, said, “We would shortly be launching four new products, subsequent to IRDA approval. These plans include a family income protection plan, a monthly income savings plan, a traditional pension plan and a market linked plan (ULIP) targeting younger...

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Standard Chartered Bank to pay Rs 2.97L for deficient service

The State Consumer Commission has dismissed a Standard Chartered Bank’s plea against a district forum order to it to pay Rs 2.97 lakh to a loanee for seizing her car for non-payment of a meagre sum of Rs 30,000 and selling it despite subsequent payment of all dues by her.The vehicle was sold after the loanee refused to take it back as its crucial parts had allegedly been removed, rendering the vehicle to a non-working condition.The Delhi State Consumer Commission observed the woman’s willingness to pay the remaining loan amount of Rs 30,000...

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Deccan Chronicle loan has turned bad: Axis Bank

The Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) loan account has turned non-performing for Axis Bank, according to a top official.“We have adequately provided for our loan exposure,” said Mr Somnath Sengupta, Executive Director & Head (Corporate Centre).He, however, did not elaborate on the extent of Axis Bank’s loan exposure to DCHL or the amount of provisioning made by the bank.A clutch of banks including Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, YES Bank, and Canara Bank have a loan exposure of about Rs 4,000 crore to the Hyderabad-based media group....

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Vikram Pandit quits Citigroup; Michael Corbat named successor

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit today stepped down from his post and member of the US banking giant’s Board.The Board of Directors has unanimously elected Michael Corbat, CEO and a director of the Board, the company said.The development comes a day after the India born CEO-led the US banking giant reported 88 per cent plunge in net profit at $ 468 million in the July-September quarter.Nagpur-born Columbia University graduate Pandit, 55, had been the CEO of Citigroup since December, 2007.Pandit said Citigroup has emerged from the financial crisis...

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Norms to buy back illiquid govt securities on the anvil: RBI

A joint working group of the Government and the Reserve Bank of India is working on guidelines to buy back illiquid government securities, according to H. R. Khan, Deputy Governor, RBI.“Over a period of time some budget will have to be set aside to provide for the premium to retire those securities whose volumes are low.“Guidelines on the same are being worked upon by a joint group of the Government and the RBI, Khan said on the sidelines of a banking summit organised by YES Bank and the Financial Times. Forex losses, CDR Khan observed...

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Axis Bank: Retail push boosts profitability

Axis Bank managed a better-than-expected profit growth, thanks to improved fee income and retail loan book growth. The net interest margins rose along the expected lines as wholesale deposit costs moderated sequentially. On the asset quality front the bank fared better, with the addition to fresh stressed assets (fresh NPAs and restructured loans) at only Rs 951 crore. Retail push Axis Bank’s key numbers were in line with what IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank achieved during the quarter. The retail loan book which accounted for just 19 per cent...

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Banks should credit interest every month, says depositors’ body

When banks receive interest on loans at monthly intervals, then shouldn’t depositors also get the same deal?A depositors’ body has flagged the issue of depositors getting a raw deal with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).Banks have been charging interest on loans and advances at monthly intervals (as against quarterly intervals earlier) with effect from April 1, 2002. Due to the reduction in the interest application frequency, the yield on bank loans have increased, the All-India Bank Depositors Association said.However, banks pay interest...

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Citigroup Q2 profit nosedives 88% to $ 468 mn

The US banking giant Citigroup today said it has reported 88 per cent plunge in net profit at $ 468 million in the July-September quarter due to $ 4.7 billion loss related to the joint venture brokerage business, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.In the year-ago period, the bank had a net profit of $ 3.77 billion, Citigroup said in a statement.Citi said excluding the loss on its brokerage unit, a one-time accounting charge and credit adjustments, the bank reported earnings of $ 3.27 billion in the quarter under review up from $ 2.57 billion in the...

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ICICI Bank ties up with African bank

ICICI Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Africa).The MoU will involve ICICI Bank and Ecobank collaborating to extend banking services across their combined footprint in India and Africa. Ecobank is present in 35 countries in Africa, said a statement from India’s largest private sector bank.India’s trade with Africa has doubled in the past four years. Stronger investment ties are complementing this steady growth in trade with Indian investments in Africa across a range of sectors...

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SBI drops ‘service area’ norm for education loan

State Bank of India has decided not to stick to the ‘service area’ approach while dispensing education loans. No loan application should be rejected without valid grounds, an e-circular dispatched to branches in the Kerala circle said. PROPER DISPOSAL The circular reminded branches that instructions regarding time-bound disposal of educational loan application had already been sent to them.Accordingly, no application must be rejected without concurrence of the next higher authority.Branches also need to record reasons for rejection and convey...

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O. P. Bhatt on StanChart board

Former Chairman of SBI, O P Bhatt, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director on the board of Standard Chartered Plc. Bhatt is the first executive from the public sector on the board of a multinational bank....

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HDFC Bank to take call on lowering lending rates soon

HDFC Bank is planning to take a call on lowering its lending rates in certain retail products during the upcoming festive season, a senior official said.“From a tactical point of view, we will respond to the market, remain competitive. If the market is moving in a certain direction, we will also remain competitive and I think that is something which we will rollout in the next few weeks,” HDFC Bank Executive Director Paresh Sukhtankar said.He, however, did not disclose more details, saying, “I do not have anything to convey in a definitive...

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Canara Bank ‘road show’

Canara Bank organised a ‘mega road show’ at all circle headquarters to generate awareness on various products and promote financial inclusion.Hundreds of employees marched on M.G. Road here on Saturday displaying the bank’s logo and banners.They sought to publicise benefits of opening accounts with the bank. S.T. Ramachandra, deputy general manager, circle office, inaugurated the march.A bank spokesman said employees managed to open a number of accounts during the campaign. In other cases, doubts about technology products were cleared....

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Why education loan schemes are not ticking

The origin of the education loan scheme in India dates back to 1992. The scheme has evolved through contributions from the Finance Ministry, Indian Banks’ Association and banks. What the Numbers Say? Data on various facets of education loan (EL) are inadequate, unsystematic and discontinuous. We have compiled available data on EL from March-end 2005 to March-end 2012 from various issues of RBI Annual Report.During this period, EL increased from Rs 5,700 crore to Rs 50,200 crore, yielding a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 36.5 per...

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Axis Bank Q2 net rises 22% on higher interest, fee income

Axis Bank reported a 22 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 1,124 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2012 on the back of growth in non-interest income and net interest income.India’s third largest private sector bank had posted a net profit of Rs 920 crore in the year-ago period.The board of directors of the bank approved the financial results at a meeting held in London on Monday.The bank’s half-yearly net profit grew 22 per cent to Rs 2,277 crore (Rs 1,863 crore in the year-ago period).Net interest income (difference between...

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