United Bank of India opens office in Myanmar

United Bank of India has commenced operations at its representative office at Yangon in Myanmar.United Bank is the first bank from India to open an office in Myanmar. The setting up of a representative office is likely to give a boost to the Indo-Myanmar trade, said a press statement issued by the bank. No financial transactions Though the representative office will not handle any financial transaction, officials will maintain liaison with the Government, banks and traders and will extend help and cooperation toward resolving all issues relating...

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Karnataka Bank eyes Rs 1-lakh cr biz in 3 years

Karnataka Bank is targeting a business of Rs 1-lakh crore by March 2015, according to its Managing Director.Inaugurating the new premises of the Balmatta branch of the bank in Mangalore on Friday, P. Jayarama Bhat, Managing Director, said that the bank, which achieved 20 per cent growth in business in the last fiscal, is targeting 25 per cent business growth during the current fiscal.“We have plans to achieve 30 per cent business growth in the next fiscal. We want to achieve a business of Rs 1-lakh crore by March 2015,” he said.The bank, which...

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Education loan scheme a top priority for UPA: Chidambaram

Education loans are one of the highest priorities of the UPA government, which is committed to making it an even greater success, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said. The Government is also confident of achieving the target of allocating 15 per cent of all bank loans to minorities, Chidambaram told Lok Sabha during question hour. Chidambaram reeled out statistics to show how education loans have been a success.  In a span of three years, the banking system’s education loan portfolio has grown to Rs 52,480 crore. As many as 24.62...

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RBI extends deadline for new format cheques

Bank account holders can continue to use their old format cheques for another three months as the Reserve Bank of India has extended the deadline for banks to issue new format cheques with uniform security features till March next year.The RBI, in a notification today, said: “Taking into consideration representations, it has been decided to extend the time up to March 31, 2013 for banks to ensure withdrawal of non-CTS 2010 Standard cheques and replace them with CTS-2010 Standard cheques.”While most of the banks have confirmed that they are...

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RBI may cut rate by FY-13 end, says Uday Kotak

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to slash the lending rate by about 0.5 per cent by March and inflation is likely to be trend down to around 7 per cent levels by 2012-13 fiscal end, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak said.“My view is that between now and March, we should see about 50 basis points drop in repo (rate). That will happen in two stages. My sense is one, either in December or January and one before March,” Kotak said on the sidelines of Delhi Economics Conclave here.Repo is the rate at which RBI lends money...

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Post office savings continue to shrink

The small savings maintained by Indians with the post office have dwindled over the past two years. The outstanding amount held by the post office shrunk by 0.5 per cent in the first half of FY13 after declining by 2.2 per cent in 2011-12.This appears to have been on account of people shifting their savings to avenues offering a higher return. Once quite popular, certificate schemes have fallen out of favour due to the low rate of interest vis-à-vis bank fixed deposits, tax-free bonds and non-convertible debentures. The government had in November...

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ICICI Bank opens 101 rural branches across six states

ICICI Bank today opened 101 rural branches across six states as part of its financial inclusion plan that aims at providing banking services in unbanked villages.These 'Gramin' branches will offer all the basic banking services such as savings bank account, fixed and recurring deposit, remittances, Kisan Credit Card, credit cards and tractor loans, ICICI Bank Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal said here.These branches were formally inaugurated in 19 districts across the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh...

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Deutsche Bank India gets Rs 1,054 cr more capital to fund growth

Foreign lender Deutsche Bank today announced that it has increased its capital base in India by Rs 1,054 crore (about $194 million) to fund the bank’s growth plans.With this capital infusion, the bank’s total capital base in India stands at nearly Rs 7,000 crore thereby strengthening its capital adequacy ratio to around 16 per cent. The increase is the sixth since 2007 and second in 2012, the bank said in a statement.The capital base pertains only to India branches and excludes all other Deutsche Bank entities operating in India, the bank said.The...

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Probe against Deutsche Bank CEO over tax evasion in carbon trade

German prosecutors have opened investigations against Deutsche Bank co-CEO Juergen Fitschen and management board member Stefan Krause to probe tax evasion involving the trading of carbon emission certificates.Fitschen, who took over the reins of Germany’s largest bank together with India-born Anshu Jain in June, is the highest ranking official to become the focus of an ongoing probe into the role of some employees of the bank in tax evasion and money laundering related to the EU carbon trade scheme.Some of the employees of the bank have been...

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Kotak Mahindra Cap ties up with SMBC Nikko for M&A advisory services

Investment bank Kotak Mahindra Capital Company has announced a strategic alliance with (SMBC) and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMBC for cross-border M&A advisory services between India and Japan.Kotak Mahindra Capital Company is a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank while SMBC is the core financial institution of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. SMBC Nikko is a full-service securities and investment banking firm in Japan.In 2010, Kotak and SMBC entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for business cooperation...

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Yes Bank enters credit card space with AmEx

Private sector lender YES Bank today announced its entry inot the credit card segment under a tie-up with American Express to offer credit cards for the high-value customer segment.The premium cards -- American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card, American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card and American Express Gold Card -- will be offered from the bank’s branches in seven cities.The mid-sized bank will benefit from American Express' "membership rewards programme, service and access to a network of merchants across 200 countries," the bank...

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Exim Bank to refinance $500 mn SME loans taken for tech upgrade

Exim Bank today said it would refinance $500 million in loans given by commercial banks for their technology upgrade to boost lending to export-oriented small businesses.“We have taken an approval to launch the scheme about a month back and will make it operational before the end of the fiscal,” Exim Bank Chairman and Managing Director TCA Ranganathan told reporters here on the sidelines of an SME financing seminar.He said banks can aggregate their portfolios devoted to technology upgrade by export-oriented SMEs in the manufacturing sector...

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5 banks launch Aadhaar-linked bank account

Five banks, including SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, today launched Saral Money bank account product which allows customers to open an account using Aadhaar card as address as well as identity proof.The RBI has recently directed banks to accept Aadhaar letter as the proof of both identity and address if the address provided by the account holder is the same as that on the Aadhaar card.“Through a product like Aadhaar-enabled KYC (Know Your Customer), we are bringing down the cost of account and that makes a product lot more attractive. And it...

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IndusInd Bank raises Rs 2,000 cr thru QIP

IndusInd Bank raised Rs 2,000 crore ($369.11 million) to conclude its third qualified institutional placement (QIP), the bank informed the BSE on Tuesday.The bank allotted a total of 5.21 crpre new equity shares. These shares constitute 9.98 per cent of the total equity shares of the bank following the QIP issue, which was launched on November 26.The QIP issue was priced at Rs 384 an equity share equivalent to 2.7 per cent premium to a floor price of Rs 374.05, the private sector bank said in a statement.Romesh Sobti, CEO and Managing Director,...

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HSBC to pay $1.9 b to settle money laundering case in US

HSBC will pay out a total of $1.92 billion to US authorities to settle long-running investigations into breaches of US anti money-laundering rules. The figure is slightly higher than the $1.5 billion that HSBC had flagged up, though this settlement is expected to be a final amount, bringing to an end a period of uncertainty with US authorities.The bank also soon hopes to reach an agreement with Britain’s Financial Services Authority. This agreement is expected to focus on the bank’s compliance procedures and monitoring systems, rather than...

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Single document having identity, address proofs enough to open bank account: RBI

Banks can accept documents such as Passport, PAN Card, Drivers’ Licence, Aadhaar letter, and NREGA Job Card as proof of identity as well as address, according to the Reserve Bank of India.However, this is subject to the address on the document submitted for identity proof by the prospective customer is the same as that declared by him/her in the account opening form.The single document submission for proof of identity and address is aimed at easing the burden on the prospective customers in complying with know-your-customer requirements for...

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Credo ups stake in IndusInd Bank, buys 28.6 lkh shares for Rs 119 cr

Credo India Thematic Fund today hiked its stake in IndusInd Bank by picking up 28.6 lakh shares in the private sector lender for about Rs 119 crore.Credo, which held 1.53 crore shares or 3.28 per cent stake in IndusInd Bank at the end of September quarter, bought 28.6 lakh shares in the private sector lender (amounting to 0.6 per cent holding), the stock exchanges data showed.The shares were purchased on average price of Rs 415.5 aggregating the deal size to Rs 118.83 crore.The shares were acquired from Banque Profile De Gestion Sa, one of...

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Union Bank launches Xperience branch in Kolkata

Union Bank of India launched its 181st Union Xperience Branch in Kolkata on Monday. This is the seventh such branch of the bank in the city.Union Xperience branches are a part of the bank’s initiative towards bringing superior customer experience for its customers. The bank has introduced automation through self service machines like pass book printers, cheque deposit machines and queue management among others and also completely revamped the sales and service model in these branches, said a bank press statement.The bank also launched its green...

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Kotak Mahindra deploys Microsoft products

Kotak Mahindra Group has deployed Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Lync 2010 for better collaboration and communication among its employees.The group implemented the technology platform as part of a unified communications strategy across its different business units. The deployment supports improved employee efficiency and better IT management.This implementation involved consolidation of server computers across the group leading to improved cost-efficiency from higher utilisation of resources, standardisation and improved manageability of the IT...

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IOB to raise Rs 800 cr via perpetual bonds

Indian Overseas Bank’s board of directors has approved raising of Rs 800 crore by way of tier 1 (perpetual) bonds - a bond with no maturity date - in one or more tranches, the bank said in a notification to the stock exchanges.The announcement led to jump in IOB's share price by 1.61 per cent to Rs 85.35 on the BSE....

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South Indian Bank eyeing 25% growth this fiscal

Kerala-based South Indian Bank hopes its business will touch Rs 1-lakh crore by March 2014. As on September 30, 2012, the bank’s business stood at over Rs 67,000 crore.According to Cheryan Varkey, Executive Director, South Indian Bank will look to achieve 25 per cent growth in its business this fiscal. The bank’s advances stood at Rs 29,000 crore as on September 30.“We have grown by 23-24 per cent till date (up to September). Though the current economic conditions do pose a challenge in achieving this growth, we are hopeful of growing our business...

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Standard Chartered to pay $327 mn to resolve US sanctions case

British bank Standard Chartered will pay the United States $327 million to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, the US Treasury announced today.US authorities said the bank had stripped messages on financial transfers routed through US banks of information that would show the beneficiaries were businesses and entities that fell under US sanctions.The fines from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other US federal and local regulators took to $667 million the total the bank has been...

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Allowing insurers to invest up to 30% in a co is imprudent: IRDA

Raising the investment limit of insurers to 30 per cent of the paid-up capital of a company would be an “imprudent” move, cautioned insurance regulator IRDA.Pegging the investment limit at 30 per cent would lead to insurance companies behaving like venture capital undertakings, which would not be warranted, according to IRDA Chairman, J. Harinarayan.“The question is whether insurance investment must be as aggressive as venture capital companies.“I think not. Insurance companies must be conservative in their approach”, Harinarayan said on the...

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Indian Overseas Bank to focus on rural lending, to open 40 agri branches

Indian Overseas Bank is planning to open 40 specialised agri business branches to focus on rural lending, with two of the branches in Andhra Pradesh, according to M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.He told presspersons here on Monday after inaugurating the new premises of the regional office of the bank, that 12 such branches would be opened soon in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Odisha. “There is immense potential for such branches in Andhra Pradesh too, and we are initially planning two such branches in Godavari district,”...

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Union Bank of India expects Rs 1,000 cr infusion

Union Bank of India expects fund infusion of about Rs 1,000 crore as part of recapitalisation plan of the government.“We have applied and we are expecting about Rs 950—1000 crore (capital infusion during the current fiscal),” said D Sarkar, Union Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director.“The government has agreed in—principle to infuse the capital and may be in week’s time we will be getting information from the government,” he added.Last fiscal, the state—owned bank got capital support of Rs 280 crore.With the infusion, Tier I capital...

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Union Bank gets in-principle nod for opening offshore unit in Dubai

Union Bank of India has received in-principle approval for opening an offshore banking unit in Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), D. Sarkar, Chairman & Managing Director, has said.The public sector lender is confident of setting up at least three units abroad in 2013 as part of efforts to expand its overseas footprint, Sarkar said.Besides Dubai, the bank is also looking to open a subsidiary in London, a branch each in Sydney and Antwerp in calendar year 2013.Having a presence in DIFC will help the bank raise money in foreign currencies...

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