Krishna Kumar is new Canara Bank ED

V. S. Krishna Kumar has assumed charge as Executive Director of Canara Bank with effect from April 4. Krishna Kumar has over three decades of experience and has headed different branches and diverse departments of Allahabad Bank. He joined Allahabad Bank in 1981 as a Probationary Officer and rose to the rank of General Manager in 2009. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Karnataka Bank appoints 4 new DGMs

Karnataka Bank has promoted four of its Assistant General Managers as Deputy General Managers. They are Muralidhar Krishna Rao, Nagaraja Rao B., Venkappaya K., and Rudraiah H.S.A press release said here on Friday that Muralidhar Krishna Rao will be in-charge of Treasury and Accounts Department, Nagaraja Rao B. will head the Mumbai region of the bank, Venkappaya K. will be in-charge of Inspection and Audit Department, and Rudraiah H.S. will be in-charge of Planning Development Department at the head office.Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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NPCI to launch RuPay global cards by July

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said its RuPay debit card will go international by July and announced a tie-up with an American card issuer.Announcing the tie-up with Discover here, NPCI Chief Executive A P Hota said both RuPay and the American firm stand to gain from this partnership due to extended distribution network of their respective cardholders.“The RuPay Card is also leveraging upon EMV technology of Discover to issue global cards. Cards, terminal and host specifications for the RuPay global cards have since been released...

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12 companies authorised to own, operate ATMs, says RBI official

The Reserve bank of India has given in-principle approval to seven companies to roll out White Label ATMs last month.White Label ATM (WLA) operator is a non-bank entity which can set up, own and operate an automated teller machine (ATM) as extended delivery channels. The RBI gave final guidelines for prospective WLA operators in August last year.“Seven companies have been given authorisation (to set up WLAs) while five were given in December last year, taking the total to 12. As soon as they get their act together, they will be in operation,”...

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IRDA removes limit on insurers reverse repo transactions in G-Secs

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has removed the 10 per cent exposure limit on reverse repo transactions by insurers.Insurance companies will now be free to invest in reverse repo transactions in government securities as per their discretion.IRDA said reverse repo transactions in Government securities were treated on a par with collateralised borrowing and lending obligation transactions and the 10 per cent investment limit wasn’t applicable to this category, in a circular to the chief executives of all insurance companiesHowever,...

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Axis Bank appoints Rajiv Anand as retail banking head

Axis Bank, India's third largest private sector bank, today announced the appointment of Rajiv Anand as President - Retail Banking with effect from May 1, 2013.At present, Anand heads the Axis Asset Management Company Ltd, the asset management arm of Axis Bank, as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.Prior to this, Anand has worked with HSBC, Standard Chartered Mutual Fund and IDFC. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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IOB gets nod to open second branch in Bangkok, 2 branches in Sri Lanka

Indian Overseas Bank has received RBI’s approval for opening a second branch in Bangkok, M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, said.The RBI has also given its nod for IOB to open two more branches in Sri Lanka, Narendra told Business Line here.Narendra was in the Capital to receive awards on behalf of the bank for excellence in lending to micro, small and medium enterprises as also to khadi and village industries.Currently, IOB is the only Indian bank to have a branch in Bangkok.In Sri Lanka, IOB has a full-fledged branch...

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Canara Bank eyes Rs 7-lakh cr business in 2013-14

Canara Bank  said it is targeting a total business to the tune of Rs 7 lakh crore in 2013-14. It also plans to open 1,300 new branches in the next two years to expand its presence.“We are targeting to achieve total business of Rs 7 lakh crore in 2013-14. But this target is yet to be approved by the board,” bank’s Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey told reporters here.“Bank’s main focus will remain on agriculture, retail and MSME for lending,” he added.Bangalore-headquartered bank achieved 13 per cent growth with total business size...

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Banks borrow most from RBI on last day of FY13

Banks borrowed a record Rs1.81 lakh crore from the Reserve Bank of India, in the last working day of the financial year ended March 31, 2013. This was the highest daily borrowing for the year as banks sought funds to meet their year-end balance-sheet requirements and the government's cash balances with the Reserve Bank ballooned.Liquidity in the system remained tight throughout March, as reflected in the borrowing data. According to the RBI data, banks borrowed Rs1.81 lakh crore through the repo window. Banks also resorted to borrowing from...

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Kingfisher dues: United Bank of India files winding-up petition

In what is being seen as more trouble for the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, one of its creditors — United Bank of India — has filed a winding-up petition against United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL). The petition is pending admission before the Karnataka High Court, it is learnt.UBHL, which is the holding company of the UB Group, was the guarantor for the loans given by United Bank of India to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA).United Bank is the first lender in the 17-bank consortium to seek winding up of the guarantor company (UBHL), after KFA defaulted....

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Corporation Bank plans to test purity of gold pledged with ‘caratometers’

To ensure purity of gold pledged with it by borrowers, Mangalore-headquartered Corporation Bank is experimenting with caratometers at some of its branches.With its gold loan portfolio jumping by almost 70 per cent jump in FY13 to about Rs 4,000 crore, the public sector bank is testing viability of the caratometer as a risk-mitigation tool, aimed at breaking the borrower-assayer (usually a local jeweller) nexus.The caratometer, which is a scientific and non-destructive method of testing the purity of the precious metal, could be used for a confirmatory...

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IRDA asks life insurers to submit product planners by month-end

Life insurers will now have to submit their plans for launch of new products to the insurance regulator.The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has directed all life insurance companies to submit a product planner 45 days before the beginning of every financial year.For the current financial year, the product planners should be submitted before this month end.The objective of the move is to speed up the product-approval process as there is a “huge” number of applications for new products, T. S. Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA, said...

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J&K Bank achieves Rs one lakh crore business

Jammu and Kashmir Bank said it has achieved the Rs one lakh crore business and expressed confidence of meeting its other annual targets as well.Jammu and Kashmir Bank surpassed the target of the promised Rs one lakh crore business in Platinum Jubilee year amid firm belief to meet easily its other annual targets as well, bank’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mushtaq Ahmad said.“It is a jubilation moment for all of us to celebrate in this Platinum Jubilee year,” the Chairman said.Ahmad said the road ahead is “full of challenges” in...

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SKS Micro raises Rs 226 cr via securitisation deals, scrip gains

SKS Microfinance Ltd has concluded two secruitisation deals for Rs 226 crore. With this, the Hyderabad-based company had completed 12 securitisation transactions with seven funding parters for Rs 1,207 crore in the financial year 2012-13 which ended on Sunday. In addtion, SKS had also raised an incremental debt of Rs 1,680 crore for FY 13 and raised a fresh equity of Rs 263.5 crore. The total incremental fund flow stood at Rs 3,150 crore which is more than double the Rs 1,434 crore mobilsed in FY 12, the company said in a relase....

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Bank of Baroda to rebalance loan portfolio, exercise caution in lending

Rebalancing the loan portfolio, exercising caution in lending, and grooming the middle management to take up higher responsibilities are the main focus of Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director S.S. Mundra. Mundra, who took charge of BoB in January, has hit the ground running, placing premium on continuity in the bank but remaining contemporary at the same time. In an interaction with Business Line, Mundra, who started his career as a probationary officer in Bank of Baroda in 1977, says that given the pressure on asset quality...

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HDFC Bank to charge customers for InstaAlert SMSes

The country’s second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank will begin charging its customers from tomorrow for its InstaAlert SMS service, under which the bank provides real-time alerts on account activities.The bank’s InstaAlerts service allows customers to keep a track of various payments and receipts, get reminders for timely payment of utility bills and receive intimations when balance falls below a pre-specified limit, among other account activities.“Effective April 1, 2013, customers registered for InstaAlerts through ‘SMS’ will be...

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Rs 90 lakh worth ICICI Prudential customer database stolen; police probe on

Fraudsters have managed to steal customer database from ICICI Prudential causing a “loss” of over Rs 90 lakh after some policy holders either surrendered or discontinued policies believing the cheats.Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing have launched a probe into it following the registration of a case under sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act last week on a complaint filed by ICICI Prudential on March 3, a senior police official said.The fraudsters made hundreds of calls to policy holders after managing to get hold of the customer...

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IRDA introduces credit rating norm for selecting foreign reinsurers

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has tightened the norms for reinsurers. According to the IRDA (General Insurance – Reinsurance) Regulations 2013, notified in the Gazette recently, tough norms have been put in place for selecting reinsurers outside India.In the reinsurance business, multiple insurance companies share the risk by purchasing insurance policies from other insurers to limit the total loss the original insurer would face in the case of a disaster.According to the new IRDA norms, insurers should place their...

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Syndicate Bank to raise $500 m via MTN bond issue

Syndicate Bank said it would raise $500 million to fund its London operations through the medium term note (MTN) bond issue.“The bank has board approval for a $500 million MTN bond issue. It could hit the overseas market between May and December this year, depending on the demand for credit,” Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank, M G Sanghvi said here.The funds raised would be utilised for expanding the credit operations of the bank’s London branch, he said.A medium-term note (MTN) is a debt security that usually matures in 5-10...

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