SBI to open 8 new branches & 63 ATM counters in Tripura

State Bank of India (SBI) will open eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters and increase the Credit Deposit ratio to give more service to the customers in Tripura, official sources said today.Chairman of SBI, Pratip Chowdhury yesterday met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and assured that the CD ratio would be increased to 50 per cent by the next fiscal and eight more new branches and 63 new ATM counters would be opened in the state.At present the CD ration is about 34 per cent. Sarkar requested Chowdhury to open more new branches...

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Inflation down to October 2009 levels, but weak rupee stems chances of rate cut

Headline inflation slowed to a 43-month low in May, partly prompting a 350-point rally of the BSE Sensex, but fears of a weak rupee stoking prices might prevent the central bank from slashing interest rates at its policy meeting on Monday.Wholesale price index based-inflation eased to 4.70 per cent, the lowest since October 2009, and the rupee strengthened by 40 paise to 57.60 to a dollar as banks and exporters sold greenbacks.While industry responded to the lower inflation numbers by calling for a cut in policy rates, experts felt the Reserve...

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Engineers, MBAs join up as assistants in SBI

At a time when the chips are down in the economy and the threat of downsizing looms in the private sector, candidates with professional qualifications are finding entry level jobs in public sector banks attractive.This is seen in the recruitment trend in State Bank of India and the scenario is not different in other public sector banks .Though the qualification for the Assistant’s position, the lowest rung in mainline banking operations, is 12{+t}{+h} class (with minimum 60 per cent aggregate marks) or a degree from a recognised university,...

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RBI likely to cut policy rates by 0.25%; keep CRR unchanged: HSBC

The Reserve Bank of India is likely to cut policy rates by 0.25 per cent and keep the cash reserve ratio unchanged at its policy review next week, on the back of slower—than—expected growth and more encouraging inflation readings, says a report by HSBC.“From the RBI’s perspective, the slower—than—expected growth and recently more encouraging inflation readings should pave the way for another 25 bps rate cut on June 17, but we do not expect a cut in the CRR with the liquidity deficit (as on June 12) hovering near the RBI’s comfort level,” HSBC...

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Vijaya Bank agri loan mela

Vijaya Bank held a mega agriculture loan mela at its branch at Pavagada, near Tumkur. H. S. Upendra Kamath, Chairman and Managing Director inaugurated the mela. Speaking at the function Dr D. Nuthan, Associate Director of Research, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, spoke about the agriculture scenario. During the mela, sanction letters were distributed to farmers under crop loan, allied activities, investment credit and indirect finance to agriculture and 48 self-help groups (SHGs) were linked. Agricultural Research Station professors...

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29 Axis Bank accounts hacked, Rs 13 lakh withdrawn from ATMs

A total of 29 Axis Bank accounts, including 12 salary accounts of Mumbai police personnel, were hacked in April and May.Agency reports quoting the police said a sum of Rs 13 lakh was withdrawn through ATMs in Greece from 29 accounts.Some of the policemen in the city had received SMS messages that cash has been withdrawn from their Axis Bank accounts in euro currency, it said.An Axis Bank spokesperson said, “A small number (less than 50) of our customers’ accounts have been impacted through transactions at compromised ATMs in Mumbai ‘belonging...

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S K Roy is new chairman of LIC

The government is understood to have appointed S K Roy as the Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).Roy, who is presently a Managing Director in the organisation, would be succeeding D K Mehrotra, whose term as LIC chief ended on May 31.Roy would be at the helm of the insurance behemoth for a period of five years, official sources said, adding that the notification to this effect would be out soon.The other candidates who were in fray for this top job were Managing Director Sushobhan Sarkar and executive director S B Mainak.Roy...

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Crisil assigns AA+ rating for United Bank tier-II bonds

Rating agency Crisil today said it has assigned ‘AA+’ rating with a stable outlook to the proposed Rs 500 crore tier-II bonds issue of public sector lender United Bank of India.As per the agency, this is the first tier-II capital instrument issued in the domestic market under the Basel III capital regulations.“This showcases Crisil’s continued commitment towards making markets function better and enabling innovation in domestic debt markets. This also sets in motion the issuance of Basel III compliant capital instruments by domestic banks and...

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SBI declares results of written exam for officer posts

State Bank of India (SBI) has announced the results of the written examination for recruitment of probationary officers. As per the notification available on its portal today, qualified candidates must download the interview call letters and biodata format from June 18. The second phase of exam consisting of group discussion and interview would commence from July 3. The result is much-awaited as over 17 lakh candidates had applied for 1,500 vacancies for which the written examination was conducted on April 28, 2012. This was the highest number...

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IndusInd Bank ties up with Western Union for remittances

Private sector lender IndusInd Bank has tied up with Western Union Business Solutions, a unit of the Western Union Company, which will provide technology platform for effecting foreign exchange payments for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India.The bank has further signed up two of Western Union’s licensed agents, Weizmann Forex and Paul Merchants, as referral agents to help market the service in the country, the company statement said.The service goes live in 22 cities across the country and aims to provide doorstep service to the Clients.“While...

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HSBC lowers India’s FY14 growth forecast to 5.5% from 6%

Global financial giant HSBC lowered India’s growth forecast for this fiscal to 5.5 per cent from 6 per cent citing slow reform process.HSBC said growth has been in line with its expectations in 2013, but slower reform progress will delay the recovery.“While we expect further progress on reforms, it will only materialise slowly. Moreover, the global recovery is likely to come later. The recovery in India will, therefore, prove even more protracted,” HSBC said in a research note.HSBC has, consequently, cut growth forecast for FY2014 to 5.5 per...

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RBS to cut 2,000 more jobs as chief steps down

Royal Bank of Scotland was on Thursday expected to announce a further 2,000 jobs cuts, a day after chief executive Stephen Hester announced he would step down later this year.The job cuts, expected to affect its global investment arm, are the latest since RBS was bailed out by the Government during the financial crisis. It has already cut more than 30,000 jobs since 2008.Shares in the 81 per cent taxpayer-owned bank plunged by 7 per cent after the news broke.Hester’s departure after five years spent overseeing the bank’s restructuring “increases...

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Chidambaram to ask PSU bank chiefs to cut lending rates

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that he has called a meeting of PSU bank chiefs and would persuade them to pass on the benefit of RBI rate cut to borrowers.“I have called the chairpersons of public sector banks towards the end of this month and have a chat on these issues.We will talk to the banks. I think they are cautious. Caution is good, but you can’t be overcautious,” he told reporters here.Chidambaram said that although RBI has reduced the policy rates by 1.3 per cent since January 2012, banks have lowered the lending rates by only...

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Indian Bank, United India launch Web portal

Indian Bank and United India Insurance Company have launched a Web portal for mediclaim group insurance policies.The portal was unveiled by T. M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Bank, and Milind A. Kharat, Chairman and Managing Director, United India Insurance. Indian Bank has been offering a co-branded group mediclaim insurance policy, Arogya Raksha group mediclaim insurance policy, to its customers since 2006. In 2012-13, it had mobilised non-life business of Rs 31 crore for United India Insurance, earning a fee-based income...

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Bank of Baroda zonal head

R. P. Marathe, General Manager, Bank of Baroda, took charge as the zonal head of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh zone of the bank. Prior to this assignment, Marathe was the General Manager heading the strategic planning, data warehouse and MIS department of the bank at the corporate office, Mumbai. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Axis Bank unveils co-branded credit card

Axis Bank on Tuesday launched a new co-branded credit card targeting affluent customers.The card holders can get a discount of 20 basis points on home loans from the bank with a 50 per cent concession on processing charges.Further, the card holders will be provided with reward points which can be redeemed with Miles & More’s partners across sectors such as flights, hotels, resorts, car rentals and retail stores among others. Miles & More is a Europe-based international frequent flyer program.The card is available in two variants —World...

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Oriental Bank cuts domestic term deposit rates

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has reduced the interest rates on certain domestic term deposits.Interest rates have been cut by 25 basis points on domestic term deposits (including NRO deposits) under various maturities for 270 days and above of term deposits of less than Rs 1 crore.For deposits of less than Rs 1 crore, the deposit rate on maturity period of 270 days to less than 1 year has been reduced from 8.5 per cent to 8.25 per cent.For deposits with maturity period of one year to less than two years, the deposit rate has been lowered...

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YES Bank gets court nod to advance board meeting to June 27

The Bombay High Court on monday directed YES Bank to advance its board meeting to June 27 to consider the appointment of its late founder’s daughter Shagun Kapur Gogia as the director on the bank’s Board.Earlier, the mid-sized private sector bank was to hold the board meeting on July 24. The next hearing by the High Court on the appointment of the directors will be on July 1.Gogia is the daughter of Ashok Kapur, who had co-founded YES Bank with his brother-in-law Rana Kapoor in 2004. Ashok Kapur passed away in the 26/11 terror attacks following...

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Cobrapost expose: RBI fines 3 private banks for violating KYC norms

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday penalised top three private sector banks — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank — for violating, among others, know-your-customer (KYC) norms and failing to file cash-transaction reports in some cases. It levied a penalty of Rs 1 crore, Rs 4.5 crore and Rs 5 crore on ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, respectively.The central bank, however, said its investigation of these banks did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering. It observed that any conclusive inference in this regard can be drawn...

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Dept of Posts to move Cabinet note to apply for bank licence

 The Department of Posts will move a Cabinet note in order to apply for a banking licence by the stipulated deadline of July 1, a senior official has said, even as a top Finance Ministry went public with doubts over the efficacy of the post office being converted into a bank.“We are moving a cabinet note now and after that we will be applying for the licence. After the cabinet note, we will go ahead with setting up the bank,” Postal Services Board’s member, planning, Suneeta Trivedi, told PTI here.Trivedi asserted that the Department will...

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Yes Bank director election drama in suspense

The contentious appointment of three directors to the board of Yes Bank is in suspense with it going to ballot at the shareholders meet, whose result will be declared on Monday.But it is believed that the voting strength is in favour of the appointment will ensure that Diwan Arun Nanda, Ravish Chopra and MR Srinivasan. Although promoters' voting rights are capped at 10%, the presence of a lot of staff and shareholders loyal to the management might have voted in favour of the appointments.Even as results are awaited there are murmurs that there...

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SBI authorised to file recovery suit against Kingfisher Airlines

Lenders plan to open a new ‘recovery’ front to realise their dues aggregating about Rs 7,000 crore from the defunct Kingfisher Airlines. They have authorised the State Bank of India to file recovery suit against the airline in the debt recovery tribunal.The lenders have also given their consent to SBI to proceed against the guarantors of loans given to the Vijay Mallya-promoted KFA, said a banker privy to the consortium meeting held last week.This development comes even as the 17-bank consortium, led by SBI, has sold off shares of Mangalore...

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Yes Bank holds paper ballot for directors appointment after dissent

Private sector Yes Bank was forced to resort to paper ballots for appointment of three new directors on its board following dissent from one of the founding families.The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Yes Bank was to approve appointment of Diwan Arun Nanda, Ravish Chopra and MR Srinivasan as wholetime directors by voice vote.Three directors were sponsored by bank MD & CEO Rana Kapoor -- who holds 13.72 per cent stake in the bank -- but were opposed by Madhu Kapur, wife of late Ashok Kapur and co-founder of Yes Bank.Madhu Kapur, who holds...

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T.M. Bhasin re-elected as IBA Deputy Chairman

T.M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank, has been re-elected as Deputy Chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2013-14 by the IBA managing committee.The decision was taken at IBA’s 66th annual general meeting.Bhasin will also be the Chairman of IBA’s Human Resources Committee and chair the ongoing wage negotiations with the United Forum of Bank Unions for the 10th bipartite discussions. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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