Corporation Bank inks deal with Bajaj Auto

Corporation Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bajaj Auto Ltd for financing its three-wheelers across the country.The MoU was signed here by V.S. Karthikeyan, General Manager, Corporation Bank, and C.K. Rao, Vice-President, Commercial Vehicles, Bajaj Auto.With the tie-up, Corporation Bank will be the preferred financier for financing Bajaj three-wheelers.“The bank is in the forefront of offering value-added and innovative retail products and services to its customers. The tie-up with Bajaj Auto Ltd is one more step in this direction,”...

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Corporation Bank opens SME loan centre in Mumbai

S.R. Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, inaugurated the bank's SME Loan Centre in Mumbai on Friday.A bank statement said here on Saturday B.B. Tejappa, Circle General Manager, and S. Prakash Nayak, Deputy General Manager and Zonal Head of Mumbai, were present on the occasion.SME loan centres have dedicated relationship managers, backed by an exclusive processing team, to render timely and hassle-free credit to SME customers. The Mumbai centre will focus on industrial estates in the city and cater to the needs of SME...

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Urban co-op banks allowed to act as PAN service agents

The Reserve Bank of India has given permission to financially sound and well managed urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to act as PAN (permanent account number) service agents or PSAs.UCBs can become PSAs by entering into a tie-up with UTI Infrastructure and Technology Services Ltd (UTIITSL), with prior approval from the RBI.PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Income Tax Department.It is mandatory to quote PAN on tax returns, all documents pertaining to financial transactions notified from time...

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RBI hits the jackpot with dollar deposit scheme

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s out-of-the-box move to woo dollar deposits by protecting banks from currency risks has been a big hit.Banks have managed to mobilise $34 billion in foreign currency deposits since the special swap scheme was flagged off in September.This is much higher than the sums raised by the Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs) of 1998 ($4.2 billion) and the India Millennium Bonds ($5.5 billion). The inflows have given the rupee a much-needed breather from its steady slide over the past year. Win-win for banks But since banks...

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SBI graft case: Loan given in ‘ordinary course of business’, says internal report

State Bank of India’s two-member internal enquiry committee seems to have exonerated Deputy Managing Director Shyamal Acharya of the allegations of wrongdoing in the sanction of a Rs 75-crore loan to a Delhi-based company.The internal enquiry committee, comprising Managing Directors Hemant Contractor and A. Krishna Kumar, concluded that sanction for the loan by the credit committee headed by Acharya “appears to have been given in the ordinary course of business”.The bank has submitted the internal enquiry report to the Department of Financial...

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All-India bank strike on Dec 18

The United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella organisation of bank officers’ and employees’ unions, will go on an all-India strike on December 18 to press for a halt to the ongoing banking reforms and immediate wage revision in the banking sector. In a press statement, State Banks’ Staff Union (Kerala Circle) said that the last five-yearly bipartite wage settlement had run out more than a year back but the Indian Banks’ Association had not taken steps for the overdue settlement. The union pointed out that the workload of bank staffers...

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Coimbatore: Corp Bank SME centre

Corporation Bank opened a loan centre for SME (small and medium enterprises) advances in Coimbatore on Thursday.A press statement by the bank said here on Friday that B. K. Srivastav, Executive Director of the bank, inaugurated the SME loan centre in Coimbatore, in the presence of V. Thangaraju, General Manager, and R. Natarajan, Circle General Manager, Chennai.The bank has got a major share of finance under textile segment in Tirupur, Coimbatore and other tier II and III centres in Tamil Nadu, the statement said. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Coimbatore: Corp Bank SME centre

Corporation Bank opened a loan centre for SME (small and medium enterprises) advances in Coimbatore on Thursday.A press statement by the bank said here on Friday that B. K. Srivastav, Executive Director of the bank, inaugurated the SME loan centre in Coimbatore, in the presence of V. Thangaraju, General Manager, and R. Natarajan, Circle General Manager, Chennai.The bank has got a major share of finance under textile segment in Tirupur, Coimbatore and other tier II and III centres in Tamil Nadu, the statement said. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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M.S. Bhaskar nominated on Canara Bank board

The Central Government has nominated Mocherla Sairam Bhaskar as part-time non-official director on the Canara Bank board.In a release to exchanges, Canara Bank said Bhaskar’s appointment is for a period of three years from the date of notification of his appointment or until further orders.anil.u@thehindu.co.in Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Cyber criminals try to steal passwords of PNB customers

Cyber criminals tried to steal passwords of corporate and individual customers of Punjab National Bank (PNB) last week, global cyber security firm Websense said.California-based Websense, which provides protection against cyber attacks and data theft, said it was able to block the intrusion, which involved a phishing attack.Phishing involves sending emails purporting to be from reputable firms to unsuspecting individuals and also corporate entities to induce then in revealing personal and financial information like passwords, credit card numbers,...

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Bank unions demand 5-day week

When the Government and many companies, both in the public and private sectors, follow a five-day week work regimen, why not banks?Trade unions in the banking sector have raised this demand as part of their bipartite wage negotiations with the Indian Banks’ Association.With alternative channels such as ATMs, Internet and mobile banking in place, the unions feel that the time is ripe for moving to a five-day week.The loss of one working day could be made up by extending the business hours from Monday to Friday. Divided view However, during...

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Bank officers’ body calls for better security at ATMs

The All-India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) has appealed to its affiliated units and State committees to urge the respective bank managements to provide security and safety to customers transacting through ATMs.Hailing the Karnataka Government’s swift action in ordering closure of unmanned ATMs in the State and ensuring a secure life for its citizens, the AIBOA General-Secretary S. Nagarajan said “this alternative delivery channel is a definite disconnect between the branch and ATM outfit in all respects.” The ATM channel brought into...

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Mohan Tanksale elected new IBA chief executive

Apex banking lobby Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has appointed Mohan V Tanksale as its chief executive.“Tanksale, who retired from Central Bank earlier this year, will take over as the IBA chief executive from today, that is December 1, 2013,” Indian Banking Association said in a statement.The appointment follows the incumbent K Ramakrishnan retiring on Saturday after a five-year tenure. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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RBI may allow up to 74% FDI in credit information cos

The RBI may allow up to 74 per cent foreign direct investment in credit information companies.“The Reserve Bank may consider allowing higher FDI (foreign direct investment) limits to entities which have an established track record of running a credit information bureau in a well-regulated environment,” RBI said in a notification.The limit can be allowed to be increased up to 49 per cent if their ownership is not well-diversified, which means if one or more shareholders each hold more than 10 per cent voting rights in the company. And the limit...

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LIC to stop selling 34 policies in December

Insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation has decided to stop selling as many as 34 policies, including Jeevan Anand, Jeevan Madhur and Jeevan Saral, to comply with new regulatory guidelines.These policies are withdrawn in December as they are not in conformity with the provisions of new regulations on non-linked insurance products, linked insurance products and health insurance products, a senior LIC official said.Of the 34 products, LIC will stop sale of Jeevan Amrit from December 7, Jeevan Surabhi from December 14 while two other schemes...

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Punching PIN must for debit card transactions from 1st December 2013

Debit card holders will from tomorrow be required to punch in their PIN numbers every time they use the card, a move aimed at minimising frauds.In June, the Reserve Bank had extended the deadline for implementation of mandatory PIN punching at Point-of-Sales (PoS) and merchant outlets till November 30 following representation of banks.“Our back-end system is in place and we have made changes in all our PoS and merchant outlets to accept PIN (basically ATM PIN) from tomorrow,” said Parag Rao, HDFC Bank’s head card payment products and merchant...

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Oriental Bank cuts lending rates for MSME advances

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has slashed its lending rate for MSME advances as part of its efforts to kickstart revival in this sector.This public sector lender is confident of making good the revenue loss from such a move with expected increase in business volumes, S.L. Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, OBC, told Business Line.OBC may take a revenue hit of about Rs 30 crore in the remaining four months, but this could be covered with higher business volumes, Bansal added.The basic purpose for the rate cut decision is to give a push...

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Recovery hubs help United Bank trim bad loans by Rs 800 crore

The United Bank of India (UBI) on Saturday said it had reduced non-performing assets (NPAs) to the tune of Rs 800 crore. A further Rs 600 crore would be recovered “shortly”.“Recovery hubs have been formed at strategic centres and the Bank has reduced NPAs by Rs 800 crore and will upgrade another Rs 600 crore, shortly,” it said in a release.For the quarter ending September 2013, UBI reported a net loss of nearly Rs 490 crore. Increased provisioning (by nearly four-fold) to Rs 987 crore, as compared to Rs 259 crore in July–September 2012 impacted...

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Corporation Bank opens SME loan centre at New Delhi

Corporation Bank has sanctioned more than Rs 3,000 crore from April to October through its SME (small and medium enterprises) loan centres in the country.A press statement by the bank said here that the bank opened its 17th SME loan centre in Delhi on Saturday. It said that the bank accorded a cumulative sanction of Rs 3,006 crore in 2,281 accounts from April to October during the current financial year through its SME loan centres in the country.With the launch of New Delhi (North) SME loan centre, the total number of SME centres of the bank...

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