Violation of KYC norms: RBI slaps Rs 50 lakh penalty on ICICI Bank, Rs 25 lakh on Bank of Baroda

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 17 imposed penalties on ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda for violating 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) as well as anti money-laundering norms (ALM). The central bank fined ICICI Bank Rs 50 lakh, BoB Rs 25 lakh, and cautioned State Bank of India, Axis Bank and State Bank of Patiala that they should review and comply with KYC norms.In a statement, RBI said, "Failure on the part of these banks (ICICI Bank and BoB) to take timely remedial measures had aggravated the seriousness of the contraventions and their...

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Vijaya Bank event at Pollachi

Vijaya Bank organised the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana programme at Pollachi. KR Shenoy, Executive Director of Vijaya Bank, distributed Rupay Cards and Pass Books to the beneficiaries. The programme was attended by over 200 beneficiaries and large number of people from nearby villages, said a Vijaya Bank statement. Shenoy explained various important features of the scheme to beneficiaries. A short film on Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Scheme in the local language was screened to create awareness. Source : Thehindubusinesslin...

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Diluting government stake is credit positive for banks: Moody’s

The Cabinet decision to allow private capital by diluting government stake in public sector banks is credit positive for undercapitalised banks, according to Moody’s Investor Service.“The ability to raise private capital that dilutes the government’s stake is credit positive for the undercapitalised public sector banks because government resources to recapitalise banks are limited,” Moody’s said in a statement.On December 10, the Cabinet said that it would allow government ownership in public sector banks to fall to 52 per cent as banks raise...

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IRDA slaps Rs. 31 lakh penalty on Canara HSBC Oriental Life Insurance

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has imposed Rs. 31 lakh penalty on Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Ltd for setting policies in favour of master policy holders under non-employee/employer groups.``The practice of issuing claim payments in favour of Master Policy Holders (Self Help Groups in this case) but not in favour of the beneficiary of the group insurance policy has a potential of jeopardising the financial interests of the dependents of the deceased policyholder,’’ the regulator said...

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Syndicate Bank launches new scheme for women entrepreneurs

Syndicate Bank is targeting to reach out to over 20,000 women entrpreneurs across the country through a new scheme 'SyndMahilaShakti', an initiative for women empowerment.The bank is observing 'SyndMahilaShakthi' week currently till December 20 across the country and aims to extend loans to over 20,000 women entrepreneurs to take up various self-employment activities under micro, small and medium enterprises, a press release said.Since December 15, the bank has sanctioned loans worth Rs. 68 crore to about 5,415 women entrepreneurs till Wednesday,...

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Dhanlaxmi Bank push to recover bad loans showing results: MD

Dhanlaxmi Bank, named in the Rajya Sabha as having the highest NPA (non-performing assets) ratio among private sector banks (at 7.27 per cent), has taken strong measures to tackle the problem.These include identifying wilful defaulters, enforcing the SARFAESI Act (which allows banks to auction properties of loan defaulters), one-time settlements, sale of assets to Asset Reconstruction Companies and filing cases with the Police and Services Fraud and Investigation Department of India. Seeking helpPG Jayakumar, Managing Director and CEO, told...

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HDFC Bank launches mobile branch in Varanasi

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, country's second-largest private lender, HDFC Bank today launched mobile banking initiative to offer round-the-clock banking facility."Part of the bank's digital banking offering... 'Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein' is technology agnostic and runs on all mobile devices popular technology platforms support," said Nitin Chugh, Head-Digital Banking, HDFC Bank.'Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein' works on both smartphones as well as the basic phones that support Internet browsing.It is another offering from...

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Axis bank opens all women branch, focuses digital

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector Bank, has opened its first All Women Branch in Patna, Bihar.“Women play an important role in managing household savings and we believe that this all Women Branch will help increase the participation of this segment in the banking industry,” said Rajiv Anand, Group Executive – Retail Banking, Axis Bank.Axis Bank also offers its mobile app ‘Axis Mobile 2.0’ with high level of personalisation, allowing users to customise their mobile banking experience, depending on the user segment (Youth, Premium&...

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DCB Bank plans doubling business in three years

The private sector lender, DCB Bank is planning to double its business in the next three years by focusing on retail advances. The bank aims to increase its lending to the self-employed persons at tier-2 to tier-6 towns (having population less than 5000)."Retail is our main focus area. Our balancesheet size is Rs. 13,000 crore at present and we are aiming to double the same in the next 3-3.5 years. We will open about 250 branches in the next three years and 50 per cent of that will come in tier-2 to 6 towns," said Murali M. Natrajan, Managing...

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HDFC Bank launches branch banking on mobile

HDFC Bank launched its mobile banking facility that offers to turn a mobile phone into a bank branch.“With over 75 transactions -- all a touch away - ‘Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’ offers the customer the widest range of transactions conceivable. These are both financial and non-financial transactions that he needs in his daily life for which he would have to visit a branch, or an ATM,” HDFC Bank said in a statement.Besides essential transactions such as booking fixed- and recurring deposits, bill and tax payments, buying insurance and mutual funds,...

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Harihar Mishra appointed as additional director of Dhanlaxmi Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Harihar Mishra, General Manager, RBI, Bengaluru, as Additional Director of Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd.In a notice to the BSE, the South-based old generation private sector bank said Mishra comes in the place of Raja Selvaraj, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Chennai.Mishra's appointment is for a period of two years with effect from December 9, 2014 to December 8, 2016 or till further orders, whichever is earlier. Source : Thehindubusinesslin...

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Axis Bank, Tigerair offer on Singapore flights

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank in association with Singapore’s no-frill airline Tigerair, announced a special offer ‘Fly out to Singapore for free on round trip’ for Axis Bank’s esteemed Credit and Debit cardholders.“From 17 December 2014 till 04 January 2015, Axis Bank customers who book a round trip to visit Singapore will only have to pay for their return ticket. Their flight to Singapore will be complimentary (airport taxes and add-on charges will still apply),” Axis Bank said in a statement.The ‘Fly to Singapore for...

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SBI to increase branch network in Karnataka

State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to close the financial year of 2014-15 with a branch network of 750 in Karnataka.In an informal chat with presspersons on the sidelines of the inauguration of an e-corner of the bank at Mangaluru main branch on Tuesday, Rajni Mishra, Chief General Manager of SBI, Bengaluru circle, said that the bank has a dominant presence in the State with 690 branches.The bank is planning to add another 60 branches in Karnataka by the end of the current financial year.“We are planning to open more branches in the remotest...

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IDBI Bank launches electronic insurance account

IDBI Bank in association with NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML) has launched 'Electronic-Insurance Account (e-IA)’.e-IA is the portfolio of insurance policies of a policy holder held in electronic form with an insurance repository.Under this facility, customers can buy and keep insurance policies in electronic form, rather than as a paper document.Existing policies in physical mode too can be dematerialised and held in e-IA.This facility will not only provide policy holders a facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form but also...

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RBI advances timing for RTGS business hours

Now, get more time to make your online fund transfer through RTGS as in another boost to online banking, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to advance the working hours starting from 8 am to 8 pm. “It has hence been decided to advance RTGS business hours to 8:00 hours from 9.00 hours and extend closing time of RTGS to 20.00 hours on week days. RTGS business window will be open from 8.00 hours to 15.30 hours on Saturdays,” RBI said in a notification.The new working hours will be with effect from December 29, 2014.Currently, the RTGS...

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Lack of ATMs could derail Jan Dhan Yojana

Despite the rising need for more ATM machines across the country, the government’s financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is yet to see an uptake in ATM deployments.Banks and ATM operators say that low interchange fee and cap on the number of free ATM transactions are making it an unviable proposition. Slack deploymentCATMi (Confederation of ATM Industry), an association of companies that deploy ATMs for banks, has warned that accounts being opened under the PMJDY would end up being dormant if there are not enough...

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Vijaya Bank’s equity capital mop-up plan on track: CMD

Vijaya Bank is confident of raising core equity capital of Rs600 crore before the end of the current fiscal, its Chairman and Managing Director V Kannan said.There is no plan to enhance this capital mop-up during this fiscal although the Centre was open to bring down its stake in public sector banks to 52 per cent.“As planned earlier, we will only go in for a qualified institutional placement issue so as to mop up about Rs600 crore before end March,” Kannan told BusinessLine. This could bring down the Centre’s stake to 68 per cent from the...

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