Union Bank plans kiosk banking in Kerala

Union Bank of India, the lead bank for Ernakulam and Idukki, has proposed to start kiosk banking in the State. The bank will begin the process in Ernakulam district.In view of the direct benefit transfer rolled out in 11 districts of Kerala from July 1, the bank is in the process of providing extensive reach of banking services through these kiosks.The bank has already tied up with Akshaya for making Akshaya kendras as banking kiosks.Through these kiosks, people can open accounts, make remittances and withdrawals, transfer funds from one account...

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Sidbi wants Govt to convert debt into equity

Small Industries Development Bank of India, Sidbi, approached Government seeking conversion of the latter’s existing debt exposure into equity, said the organisation’s Chairman & Managing Director, Sushil Muhnot. The proposal seeks the conversion of Government debt exposure of about Rs 2,500 crore in Sidbi into equity, Muhnot said.If the Government agrees to the conversion, it would enable Sidbi to do more equity financing, he told Business Line here. This is because a higher equity would imply increased net worth. This, in turn, would...

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BoB employees' contribution

Employees of Bank of Baroda have contributed Rs 5 crore to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. This amount was given for providing assistance to the victims of cloud burst and flash floods in Uttarakhand. It was collected through contribution of one-day salary by the employees. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Canara Bank cuts base rate to 9.95%

Canara Bank has pared its minimum benchmark lending rate (also known as the base rate) from 10.25 per cent to 9.95 per cent. The public sector bank has also cut deposit rates by up to 50 basis points.Banks usually give loans at a mark-up to the base rate. All interest rate changes by the bank are effective from July 8.One basis point is equal to one-hundredth of a percentage point.On the term deposits (of less than Rs 1 crore) side, the bank has effected a 50-basis points cut in interest on deposits of 270 days to less than one year maturity...

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Bank licences for corporates in national interest: RBI

Even as 26 applicants wait with a hope to get a banking licence, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D Subbarao said that the decision to allow corporates to apply for new licences was taken after much debate."We debated extensively on the matter and the decision to allow corporates to apply for bank licences was done in the national interest," Subbarao said. "As Indian banks go out and open branches abroad and foreign banks come and set up operations inside the country, there is no way we cannot implement Basel III," the governor said on...

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Central Bank of India launches ‘Wonder Card’

The Central Bank of India on Wednesday rolled out a new debit-cum-credit card, called ‘Wonder Card’, for the benefit of salaried customers in Bihar.Speaking at a function here after launching the Wonder Card, Central Bank of India Executive Director Malay Mukherjee said the new card will enable a customer to withdraw a fixed amount in excess of his salary to be adjusted against deposit under salary head in the next month.A Wonder Card holder with a salary of up to Rs 25,000 per month can withdraw an excess amount of Rs 10,000 against his salary...

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Corp Bank pays dividend to LIC

Corporation Bank has paid a dividend of Rs 71.73 crore to Life Insurance Corporation of India.A statement by the bank said here on Wednesday that Ajai Kumar, the then Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, handed over the cheque to Thomas Mathew T., the then Chairman of LIC of India. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Karnataka Bank to offer online money transfer service

Karnataka Bank has tied up with Times of Money to offer an Internet-based online money transfer solution to non-resident Indians (NRIs).Quoting P. Jayarama Bhat, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank, a press statement said here that India is the top receiver of remittances worldwide. In the recent past, bulging trade deficit along with significant decline in invisible earnings caused widening of current account deficit resulting in stress on balance of payments.“In this scenario, it is felt appropriate to tap the...

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Canara Bank CMD meets Karnataka CM

R.K. Dubey, chairman and managing director, Canara Bank, called on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday. Canara Bank, which has its roots in the State and wide geographical spread, has initiated multifarious socio-economic programmes apart from carrying out its traditional banking. Dubey congratulated the Chief Minister on his assuming the office and briefed him on the bank’s contribution in the socio-economic development of the State. The bank has 713 branches in the State of which 291 are in rural areas. Source: ...

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Citibank India net up 41.4% to Rs 2,718 cr

Citibank India on Wednesday reported a 41.4 percent increase in net profit for the financial year 2012-13 at Rs 2,718 crore (Rs 1,922 crore).The bottomline growth of this foreign commercial bank is higher than the 35 percent increase in net profit recorded in 2011-12.An all round performance in commercial, retail and treasury segments contributed to the robust financial results in 2012-13.Both topline growth and improved operating efficiency led to this bottomline growth. The operating expenses-income ratio improved significantly from 44.5...

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Bank of India cuts base rate by 25 bps to 10%

Bank of India reduced its base rate by 25 basis points to 10 per cent, according to a release filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Earlier, the base rate of the bank was 10.25 per cent per annum.The revised rate will be effective from July 8, the release said.This move comes after the Finance Ministry on Wednesday advised banks to cut their base rates. A base rate cut will pave the way for reducing lending rates, thereby reviving projects and revving up economic growth.The Reserve Bank of India in its mid-quarter monetary policy review on...

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SBI rules out cut in minimum lending rate

The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), ruled out the possibility of cutting its minimum lending rate or base rate, saying it was the lowest in the market.“We are already at the lowest. We are at 9.7 per cent (base rate). Other banks have been asked (by Finance Minister P Chidambaram) to come to SBI level,” bank Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said here.“Our home loan rates are at 9.95 per cent, everybody is at 10.2. We are ahead of the curve,” he said.Earlier , after a meeting with heads of public sector lenders, Chidambaram said...

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SBI celebrates 58th bank day

State Bank of India celebrated its 58th bank day in Chennai on Monday.It was on this day, July 1, 1955, the Imperial Bank of India was reconstituted by an Act of Parliament to to create State Bank of India to perform the functions of a commercial bank. This marked the start of a new era in banking in the country, said a press release from SBI.At launch of the day’s events, Varsha Purandare, Chief General Manager, SBI, delivering the presidential address, emphasised the importance of ‘prompt and positive response’ by the staff to every opportunity...

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Corporation Bank presents dividend cheque to Govt

Corporation Bank has presented a dividend warrant of Rs 173.80 crore to the Union Finance Minister in New Delhi recently.A press release by the bank said here on Tuesday that Ajai Kumar, the then Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, presented the cheque to P. Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister, in the presence of Namo Narain Meena, Union Minister of State for Finance, Snehlata Shrivastava, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services.The amount pertains to the dividend declared by the bank for 2012-13 at Rs 19 on a...

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Karnataka Bank targets fresh export credit of Rs 1,460 cr

Karnataka Bank Ltd is targeting fresh disbursement of Rs 1,460 crore under export credit during 2013-14.P. Jayarama Bhat, Managing Director, said this while delivering the keynote address at the ‘Foreign Exchange Business Review Conference 2013’ of the bank here on Tuesday.With this fresh disbursement, the bank is targeting a total export credit of Rs 3,160 crore by the end of 2013-14.At present the bank has 20 designated branches, including three overseas branches, for forex business. Added to this, 56 branches act as feeders to these designated...

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RBI gives in-principle nod for an all-women bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its in-principle approval for the Central Government to set up the country’s first all-women bank.The proposed all-women bank will be the first ever commercial bank to be floated by the Central Government.It is expected to have a pan-India presence with six branches to start-with. The headquarters for the all-women bank is likely to come up at New Delhi.The Central Government will initially pump in Rs 1,000 crore as paid-up capital of the bank.The name of the all-women bank is yet to be firmed up even...

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RBI gets 26 applications for bank licence

The Reserve Bank of India has received 26 applications for new banking licences until Monday, the deadline for making a pitch, with a mix of big corporate houses led by the Tatas, the Aditya Birla group, the Rahul Bajaj group, Videocon, the Anil Ambani group and Larsen & Toubro in the race to set up a commercial bank.Others in the fray include a government department, state-owned firms, a handful of non-banking financial companies and a couple of microfinance institutions. Among those who have decided to give it a miss are Reliance Industries...

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India to seek aid from World Bank, ADB to rebuild Uttarakhand

Government will seek financial aid from multilateral bodies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank for reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, finance minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.He said funds will not be a constraint for rebuilding the mountainous state which had witnessed the worst ever floods last month that killed several hundreds and destroyed properties worth crores."We are trying to develop a (financial) package for rehabilitation and reconstruction for which we will go to multilateral bodies, like...

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Syndicate Bank’s 3000th branch

Syndicate Bank opened its 3000th branch at Dodda Kammanahalli, Bangalore, recently.M.G. Sanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, inaugurated the branch.He said the bank opened it 3001st branch at Imphal, Manipur, and with this, the bank has presence in all the States of India. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Vijaya Bank all-woman branch

Karnataka Minister for Women & Child Development Umashree inaugurated Vijaya Bank’s all-woman branch at Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore. It is the bank’s second all-woman branch and first in Bangalore.Basavaraj Byrathy, Member of the Legislative Assembly and K.R Shenoy, the Bank’s Executive Director were present on the occasion.As a responsive corporate social citizen, the Bank extended several Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives at Ramamurthy Nagar.The Bank adopted a girl child to support her education till her graduation. Source:...

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4 bank insurance staff held for swindling Rs. 1.6 cr.

In a classic case of fence eating the crop, four employees of ICICI Bank’s insurance wing Lombard in charge of scrutinising medical insurance claims allegedly embezzled Rs. 1.6 crore by presenting fake hospital bills. Malla Reddy, Srinivas Reddy, Prabhakar and Raghu were arrested by the Raidurg police on Monday. Among the beneficiaries of the illegal and false claims were 34 employees of the Lombard and 20 outsiders, Raidurg Inspector A. Balakoti said. “Since their job was to process the applications of medical insurance, the accused were familiar...

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Muthoot Finance files application for banking licence

Gold loan company Muthoot Finance Ltd filed an application with the Reserve Bank of India for a banking licence.Confirming that the non-banking finance company has filed its application, K.P.Padmakumar, Executive Director, said that Muthoot Finance would set up a non-operative financial holding company to conform to the RBI guidelines.While MFL would hold 90 per cent stake in the holding company, the balance 10 per cent will be held by the promoters.Padmakumar said that Muthoot Finance knew the "rural heartland " very well and that most of...

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IRDA plans cap on sales by bank-promoted insurers

Insurance companies promoted by non-banks may soon be on a level playing field with bank-promoted insurers.According to the guidelines being planned by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), banks, which opt to be insurance brokers, will have to cap business from their own group companies at 25 per cent.This simply means banks cannot push for products from their own group companies beyond 25 per cent of the total annual sales. For example, if State Bank of India becomes a broker, its total insurance sales from SBI Life Insurance...

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Tata, Birla, India Post among 26 applicants for bank licence

Tata Sons, IDFC, India Post and Suryamani Financing are among the 26 entities seeking a bank licence which the Reserve Bank of India said will be granted only to a few even if everyone meets the guidelines.The aspirants include the Aditya Birla Group, which has interests ranging from telecom to aluminium, and Reliance Capital of Anil Ambani - which has presence in power and roads, besides financial services.Lesser-known names such as Suryamani Financing Co from Kolkata (owned by Dunlop Tyres' Pawan Ruia), auditing firm INMACS Management Services...

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YES Bank Row: No end in sight, Madhu Kapur, Shagun Gogia looking for more than just a board position

YES Bank's four-year-old family feud that spilled over to streets may play out in courts for a long time as Madhu Kapur prepares for a prolonged battle to establish her claim as an equal business partner to Managing Director and Chief Executive Rana Kapoor."This will be a long drawn court battle,'' said a legal advisor to Madhu Kapur after her daughter's nomination was rejected. "Madhu and the family are aware of it. They are fighting for joint nomination rights along with Rana, and not just a board seat for Shagun,'' said the person who did...

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RBI's new bank license norms: Now, corporates may vie for takeovers in banking sector

The deadline is 24 hours away. By the end of day on July 1, some 40 applications of corporations seeking a banking licence are expected to reach the doorstep of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Only four or five are likely to get the go-ahead.The applicants still in the fray — after the apex bank did its bit to clear ambiguities with 124 pages of answers to 422 questions in the first week of June — are hopeful. A few, like Mahindra Financial Services and Sundaram Finance, decided to walk away after they felt the regulations were not suited...

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Canara Bank driving weavers credit card scheme

Canara Bank is aggressively pushing the weavers’ credit card scheme.This loan scheme for handloom weavers, formulated by the Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles in consultation with the Ministry of Finance (Banking Division), aims to provide adequate and timely finance – both for investment purpose and working capital needs – to this unorganised sector of the textile industry.Canara Bank sources told Business Line that the existing handloom weavers, including those that had utilised credit under other schemes of the bank...

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Two Indian Bank ATMs inaugurated at Chennai Airport

Public sector Indian Bank has inaugurated two ATM centres at the Chennai airport.The 1431 and 1432 centres of the bank were inaugurated by Airport Director H S Suresh in the presence of Bank Chairman and Managing Director, T M Bhasin in the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal, a bank statement said.Chennai-headquartered Indian Bank serves more than 22 million customers through their ATM network, Bhasin said, adding another ATM would soon be set up at the New International Airport Arrival Terminal. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Yes Bank board declines to nominate Shagun Gogia as director

Private sector lender Yes Bank’s board has declined to nominate Shagun Gogia as a nominee director, a development that is set to prolong the bitter tussle between the promoter families.Gogia is the daughter of bank co-founder Ashok Kapur, who was killed in the November 2008 terror attacks on the city.She was nominated by her mother Madhu Kapur as the legal heir to her deceased husband’s 12 per cent stake in the bank.The board’s decision was taken at its June 27 meeting, which was convened as per an order of the Bombay High Court.“The board...

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RBI cancels registration of two non-banking FIs

Reserve Bank of India restricted two non—banking financial institutions (NBFIs) from transacting business allegedly for not complying with the operating guidelines and procedures.The certificate of registration (CoR) of the two NBFI’s —— Tulip Finlease Private Limited & Galaxy Consolidated Finance Limited —— were cancelled by RBI.The CoR’s of the two companies were cancelled on May 9 and June 6, respectively, according to a public announcement by RBI.In exercise of powers conferred on it under sub—section (6) of section 45—IA of the Reserve...

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IRDA slaps Rs 20 lakh fine on Aviva Life, Rs 5 lakh on Indusind Bank

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has slapped a Rs 20-lakh penalty on Aviva Life Insurance Co India Ltd.The fine was imposed for payment of higher commission than what was permitted by the regulations in force, the regulator said in an order issued on Friday.The company had made higher commissions to its corporate agents, Indusind Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank and Anngram Stock Broking Ltd, the order said.In a separate order, IRDA also imposed a Rs 5-lakh fine on Indusind Bank for violating norms by accepting higher...

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After private sector lenders, SBI, PNB too start charging for SMS alerts

With private sector banks beginning to charge customers for SMS alerts sent to their mobile phones, public sector State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank too have decided to get on to the bandwagon.SBI, India’s largest lender, will recover Rs 15 (inclusive of service tax) per quarter as SMS alert charges from its customers with effect from the quarter ending June 2013.Punjab National Bank, India’s third largest public sector bank, will also charge all new as well as existing customers Rs 15 per quarter for SMS alerts for transactions with...

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