SEBI to ease registration norms for foreign investors

Capital markets regulator will soon ease registration norms for foreign investors, Securities and Exchange Board of India chief UK Sinha told reporters on Friday.The government is looking to ease norms for the entry of foreign investors as part of efforts to attract more capital inflows to bridge its widening current account deficit. Source: Economictime...

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Now, pay your auto fare via mobile

Old private sector lender Federal Bank has turned to auto drivers to increase its mobile payment services through IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment Service).The facility will enable auto drivers to receive their fare from the customers of any bank using a mobile phone.“This is a cashless mobile-based payment system which accommodates any amount starting from Re 1 and adds convenience and security to both passengers and drivers eliminating coin shortage and fake currency problems, said D. Sampath, Head - Retail Banking, Federal Bank.A passenger...

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Sanjiv Misra takes over non-executive Chairman of Axis Bank

Sanjiv Misra, former Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, today took over as the Non-Executive Chairman of AXIS Bank Ltd.This follows RBI approval of his appointment effective today (March 8).In a communication to the stock exchanges, the bank said on the expiry of his term as Chairman on March 7, Adarsh Kishore has resigned with effect from March 8 and has ceased to be a Director of the bank. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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HDFC Bank to open more branches in Karnataka

HDFC Bank plans to open 50 new branches in Karnataka by the end of next fiscal.The proposed expansion includes the districts of Chamarajnagar and Kolar, where the bank does not have any branches, HDFC Bank Branch Banking Head (South) Dhiraj Relli told reporters here today.“By March 31, 2014, we plan to have 200 branches in Karnataka (from the current 150),” he said, adding that the bank sees huge potential in rural and semi-urban areas’’.The country’s second largest private sector bank opened its 150th branch in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada...

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IDBI Bank to hire 2,000 people next fiscal

IDBI Bank plans to open about 150 branches and add about 2,000 employees in fiscal 2013-14.Of the 2,000 recruits, 500 would be for replacement and attrition while 1,500 would be for staffing its new branches.“We have an advantage of being a young organisation with very few about to retire,” said R. K. Bansal, Executive Director, IDBI Bank.The average age of IDBI Bank’s employees is 30 years, which, he said, was lower than its peer set.An attrition rate of 5-6 per cent for a PSU bank such as IDBI is definitely on the higher side, he said, but...

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HDFC Bank to open more branches in Karnataka

HDFC Bank plans to open 50 new branches in Karnataka by the end of next fiscal.The proposed expansion includes the districts of Chamarajnagar and Kolar, where the bank does not have any branches, HDFC Bank Branch Banking Head (South) Dhiraj Relli told reporters here today.“By March 31, 2014, we plan to have 200 branches in Karnataka (from the current 150),” he said, adding that the bank sees huge potential in rural and semi-urban areas’’.The country’s second largest private sector bank opened its 150th branch in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada...

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StanChart, ADB partner to support MFIs across Asia

UK-headquartered, Standard Chartered Bank will originate and service $150 million microfinance institutional loans across Asia in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).Under this regional programme, ADB will share the risk via risk participation and guarantee programme on this portfolio for up to $75 million. It will also enable Standard Chartered Bank to extend additional credit to microfinance institutions, the bank said in a statement.Peter Heidinger, Global Head, Financial Institutions Group, Standard Chartered, said, “This...

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UBI, SIDBI team up to offer easy credit to small-scale units

Kolkata-headquartered United Bank of India (UBI) on Thursday said that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for providing easier credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).The MoU was signed on March 5 (Tuesday). Loans would be provided to the MSMEs under the programme for facilitating enterprise loans.According to a UBI release, SIDBI would act as a facilitator of the small and medium enterprises by sponsoring investment proposals on behalf of UBI. The latter...

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YES Bank rolls out ‘Incredible India’ travel card

YES Bank has launched an ‘Incredible India Travel Card’ in association with the Tourism Ministry. This pre-paid card travel card was unveiled by K. Chiranjeevi, Minister of State for Tourism, at the ITB Fair in Berlin, Germany.Rana Kapoor, Founder, Managing Director & CEO of YES Bank, said this co-branded card would make travelling within India a cashless and hassle-free experience.“The ‘Incredible India’ campaign has a huge global recall, and we believe that the private sector too must supplement the Ministry’s marketing efforts with robust...

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HSBC sells US loans for $3.2 b

Global banking giant HSBC announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to offload a package of home loans for $3.2 billion in cash to US-based SpringCastle Acquisition, one day after the bank posted falling annual profits.The Asia-focused lender said in a statement that its HSBC Finance Corporation subsidiary has entered into a deal to sell its personal unsecured loan and personal homeowner loan portfolios to SpringCastle Acquisition LLC, a division of Delaware—based Springleaf Finance, Inc. and Newcastle Investment Corp.HSBC added that the transaction...

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Govt infuses Rs 1,248 cr in PNB; BoI gets Rs 809 cr

Two state owned lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of India (BoI) today said they have received capital infusion of over Rs 2,050 crore, following the allotment of preferential shares to the government.The bank has received allotment money of Rs 1,247.99 crore from the Government of India on March 4, 2013, PNB said in a filing on the BSE.It allotted 1.42 crore equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 863.05 on preferential basis to the government.BoI, on the other hand, received Rs 808.99 crore from the government...

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ICICI Bank to sell 25-kg pledged gold to recover loans

The country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank will auction this month gold jewellery weighing nearly 25 kg, which has been pledged with it for loans and the concerned borrowers have defaulted on their payments.The auction would be conducted across various branches of ICICI Bank across Uttar Pradesh on March 16 for gold jewellery deposited by about 100 customers as collateral for their loans, ICICI Bank said in various public notices today.While neither the exact value of the gold ornaments being auctioned nor the outstanding loans...

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Corporation Bank pushing retail loans

To make up for the slowing corporate credit offtake, Corporation Bank has sharpened its focus on its retail loan portfolio and announced special schemes to boost auto loans.S. Pattabiraman, General Manager, Chennai Circle, said the bank has built a retail loan portfolio of Rs 3,400 crore from across the country during the five-month period September 1, 2012, to January 31, 2013. Of this, home loans accounted for Rs 1,800 crore and car loans, Rs 900 crore. “We see big room for growth in these areas.” The bank is looking to disburse at least...

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SBI buying property for housing staff in Singapore: Report

The State Bank of India (SBI) is investing in accommodation-based property in Singapore, ensuring higher grade housing requirements of its expatriate staff, a media report said today.The apartment purchases should help reduce rental costs by 20 to 25 per cent within the next three years, SBI Singapore Chief Executive and Country Head Anil Kishora was quoted as saying in a report by local daily ‘The Straits Times’.“It will stabilise our cost base. In some sense, it would insulate us from any future increases in pricing, as we won’t be paying...

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ICICI Bank’s UK arm repatriates $100 m of capital

ICICI Bank has received capital repatriation aggregating $100 million from its wholly-owned banking subsidiary in the UK, ICICI Bank UK PLC.The repatriated amount comprises redemption of $50 million of preference share capital and return of $50 million of equity capital, after receiving requisite approvals, the bank said in a statement.ICICI Bank UK had a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 31.5 per cent at December 31, 2012. Post the repatriation, the capital base of the UK arm is $ 495 million and its capital adequacy ratio continues to be strong,...

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Karnataka Bank, Ashok Leyland enter into pact

Karnataka Bank Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ashok Leyland Ltd for financing of commercial vehicles.A press release by the bank said here on Monday that the bank will provide finance on easy terms to the eligible persons availing finance under this MoU. The bank has over 527 branches and Ashok Leyland has over 400 dealer outlets across India, it said.N. Upendra Prabhu, General Manager of Karnataka Bank, and Srinivasan Anand, Head-Sales Financing, Ashok Leyland Ltd, have signed the MoU in Mangalore recently, the release added.vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.inSource:...

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HSBC bank reports drop in annual net profit by 16.5%

Asia-focused bank HSBC said today that net profits sank 16.5 per cent to $14.03 billion in 2012, hit by US money-laundering fines, mis-selling scandals, rising taxation and a huge accounting charge.Profit after tax fell to the equivalent of 10.78 billion euros last year, compared with $16.8 billion in 2011, London-headquartered HSBC said in a results statement. Pre-tax profits meanwhile slid six per cent to $20.65 billion.HSBC’s performance was hit by a $1.9 billion fine to settle US allegations of money laundering that were said to have helped...

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LIC invites applications to fill up 750 vacancies

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has invited online applications for filling up 750 vacancies for the post of Assistant Administrative Officer (AAO).Candidates recruited will be able to work in different streams such as Marketing, Finance, Investment, IT, Customer Relations, Underwriting, Actuarial, HR and Legal. The total emoluments for the post will be Rs 33,418 per month in an ‘A’ class city. There will be a one-year probation period, extendable to two.Online registration is open from March 5 till April 1. The online exam will tentatively...

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At least 8% growth needed to tackle poverty: RBI’s Chakrabarty

India should grow by at least 8 per cent year-on-year to make some meaningful dent on poverty, RBI Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty has said.Unless the country grows by at least 8 per cent, it will not survive, Chakrabarty told Business Line on the sidelines of India-OECD-World Bank regional conference on financial education here today.He was responding to a query on whether 5-6 per cent GDP growth will be a new normal for India.The Central Statistics Office (CSO) had recently pegged the advance estimate for GDP growth for 2012-13 at 5 per...

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SBI sees profit at Rs 14,000-15,000 cr this fiscal

State Bank of India today said it expects to clock a net profit of Rs 14,000-15,000 crore in the current fiscal, backed by strong internal generation and robust demand for loans.“For SBI we got an allocation of 3,000 crore this year (capital infusion by the government) and we expect to make a net profit of another Rs 14,000-15,000 crore of net profit this year,” State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told a television channel.SBI had reported a marginal 4.08 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 3,396 crore for the third quarter...

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CIBIL chief visits Karnataka Bank

M. V. Nair, Chairman of Credit Information Bureau India Ltd (CIBIL), visited the head office of Karnataka Bank in Mangalore on Saturday.Addressing executives of the bank, he highlighted the importance of using data available through CIBIL.He said that the data will help in identifying customers with good banking track record. He suggested that borrowers with high score need be given preferential rate of interest.A press release by the bank said here that Nair appreciated the higher quality and correct data made available by Karnataka Bank to...

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HDFC Bank raises $500 m in overseas bond sale at 3% coupon

HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector lender whose shares command the highest premium in the market across the world, has successfully sold a $500-million five-year bond at 3 per cent coupon, its lowest yet.The $500-million unsecured senior bond issue, which saw 10-times demand or $5 billion, over the issue size, is part of HDFC Bank’s $1-billion overseas bond sale (medium term note). The money was raised through its Bahrain branch over the last weekend, StanChart, one of the merchant bankers to the issue told PTI.At 3 per cent coupon...

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Bank of Baroda looks to boost profits from global operations

Bank of Baroda will rebalance its international portfolio to improve profitability of its overseas operations, its recently appointed Chairman and Managing Director, S. S. Mundra, has said.Currently, this public sector lender has 98 outlets in different countries, accounting for about 25 per cent of the bank’s profits in a financial year.As much as 30 per cent of the bank’s overall business comes from international operations. BOB will soon open a full-fledged branch at Dubai International Financial Centre.The aim is to enhance the share of...

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