PSU bank chiefs defy Finance Minister diktat, hike rates

In a rare display of spunk, some chiefs of public sector banks are standing up to their bosses in the North Block, even differing with them on rate cut, something you wouldn't have heard of in the past.At least two bankers have, in recent months, raised interest rates despite veiled — and at times, explicit instructions — from New Delhi to not do so. What's even more interesting is that these bank chiefs are close to their retirement.For instance, State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri raised lending rates — a token hike of 10 basis...

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Bank strike on Sept 25

Members of the All-Kerala Bank Employees Federation will take part in the September 25 all-India bank strike, the federation has said.The strike, called by the All-India Bank Employees Association, is to oppose the move for amalgamation of State Bank’s associated banks and the RBI’s plan to give banking licences to non-banking finance companies and corporate houses. The association also seeks autonomy for the associated banks of the State Bank of India.The Kerala federation in a statement urged the people and the government in Kerala to resist...

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RBI adopted balanced approach in policy review, says Montek

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said that the RBI’s mid term monetary policy statement reflects “balanced” approach to deal with “worrisome” inflation and slacking growth.Reserve Bank, in its mid term review of the monetary policy today, decided to hike short term policy rate by 0.25 per cent after a gap of two years and ease liquidity by reducing the marginal standing facility rate for banks.“I think it is a quite balanced statement actually. He (RBI Governor) has done something which will ease liquidity and...

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Bangalore: Hindi Day at Vijaya Bank

Hindi Day was celebrated at Vijaya Bank at its Head Office in Bangalore. Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank H S Upendra Kamath presided over the function. Executive Director, K R Shenoy also addressed the gathering. The General Manager (Rajbhasha), A C Swain welcomed the gathering. Kamath while acknowledging the fact that use of Hindi Language will go a long way in contributing to the growth of the Bank, appealed to the staff members to put in more efforts and achieve the targets set for Hindi correspondence in 'A' and 'B' Region. Source:...

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RBI may not alter key rates, say experts

The Reserve Bank of India could turn to a monetary policy supporting growth after the US central bank delayed tapering of its fiscal stimulus programme.Experts say, despite a status quo on the repo rate, the US tapering of QE (quantitative easing programme) delay will make way for a growth-oriented policy by RBI in its mid-quarter policy review on Friday. Most believe that the RBI could also roll back the liquidity tightening measures taken in July.In its report, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, “We expect RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to...

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IRDA urged to extend re-filing deadline

The Life Insurance Council, the industry body representing life insurance companies, has asked the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to extend the deadline for re-filing all their existing products as per the new norms.The guidelines require all life insurers to realign the products before October 1. The life insurance industry has to withdraw about 400 products and re-launch them under the new detailed structure .According to V. Manickam, Secretary-General of the Council, the industry body is “confident of a positive development”...

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Bharatiya Mahila Bank to recruit 115 probationary officers

Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first nationalised bank for women expected to be operational from November, intends to recruit 115 officers initially.The bank has invited applications through the online mode from female candidates for 115 posts. Candidates can apply online till September 30.The female applicants must be graduates in any faculty from any reputed and recognised university with good knowledge of the basics of computers, says an advertisement by the bank.Bharatiya Mahila Bank proposes to complete the first six branches at Mumbai, Delhi,...

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South Indian Bank ties up with Regional Cancer Centre

While banks in general boast about village adoption programme, South Indian Bank possibly looked beyond this by tying with the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram for a noble cause.“This tie-up with RCC is aimed at driving a noble cause in support of cancer patients,” says the Kerala-headquartered bank’s Chief Executive V.A. Joseph.“With the incidence of cancer rather high at present and the treatment costunaffordable to the common man, we at SIB decided to join hands with RCC, Thiruvananthapuram to help them get a move on member enrolments....

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Wipro-US firm team leads race for Rs 1,000-cr Mahila Bank deal

US-based FIS Global, in partnership with Wipro, is leading the race for a Rs 1,000-crore contract to provide IT systems at the country’s first women-focussed bank, it is reliably learnt.Other major bidderThe five-year project entails setting up and managing a core banking application and other technology infrastructure for the Bhartiya Mahila Bank, a brainchild of the Government of India.Infosys, which had partnered with IBM, was the other major bidder for this deal. The names of Polaris Financial Technology and HP too were doing the rounds,...

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YES Bank raises $225 m using swap loan facility

YES Bank has become the first bank to raise funds overseas using the swap loan facility provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week.The private sector lender raised $255 million ($180 million and €58 million) by way of dual currency, multi-tenor syndicated loan facility.RBI, on September 10, had announced that banks can raise funds overseas above 50 per cent of their Tier I capital with a minimum maturity of three years and swap these borrowings with the central bank at a concessional rate for one to three years.A Treasury head of...

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Lakshmi Vilas Bank creating new verticals to double turnover

Lakshmi Vilas Bank is creating new business verticals by re-allocating resources and rationalising workforce with an aim to double its turnover.The bank has created business, operations and compliance verticals in its management hierarchy with a thrust on credit and product marketing.“To achieve this, the bank is realigning workforce to drive productivity. According to the plan, we will be deploying about 30 per cent of work force in client interfacing,” J. Moses Harding, Executive Director, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, told Business Line.The bank plans...

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RBI norms take sheen out of gold loan firms

Gold financing firms will need to relook their business model as the Reserve Bank of India’s new, tightened norms are likely to hurt growth, according to analysts.Uncomfortable with the systemic risks involved in the extant lending model, the RBI on Tuesday issued new guidelines on gold loans by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to bring in more transparency.Prakash Agarwal, Associate Director - Banks, India Ratings, said: “It is positive from the systemic point of view and will reduce risks. From the companies’ point of view, the portfolio...

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Top IRDA official charged with sending ‘spurious mails’

Whistleblower or blackmailer? The staff and management of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) have adopted diametrically opposite positions in a controversy relating to a joint director, who was arrested on a complaint from the regulator.S. K. Jain, who is also the Vice-President of the IRDA Officers and Staff Association, was charged with using fake IDs to send e-mails to senior officials, including those in the Ministry of Finance, about corruption and malpractice in the regulatory body.The remand report of the police...

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10-12% growth in project finance portfolio: SBI

The project finance segment of State Bank India, the country's largest lender, is witnessing a 10-12 per cent growth on a year-on-year basis.According to P.K. Malhotra, Deputy Managing Director, SBI Project Finance SBU, the bank has witnessed an increased outflow towards project finance.Higher number of projects have also been sanctioned.The project finance unit accounts for nearly 10 per cent of SBI's total portfolio."Project sanctions are higher than last year," Malhotra told reporters on the sidelines of the "Banking Colloquium 2013" organised...

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