PSU bank unions threaten 4-day nation-wide strike from Feb 25

Public sector bank employee unions today threatened go on a four-day nation-wide strike beginning February 25 to press for their wage-related demands."Banks have been providing for a 15 per cent wage hike since November 2012. Thus, banks already have incorporated wage increase of 15 per cent into their accounting but their offering is 13 per cent only."This is not acceptable to employees who have been fulfilling all obligations including making Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana a runaway success. This was accepted by the Prime Minister. Therefore,...

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Banking sector to witness high attrition rate: RBI

With the banking sector being thrown open to niche as well as more private players, RBI deputy governor R Gandhi today warned the industry to brace for higher attrition, being already faced by highly unionized public sector lenders.“We’ve been telling banks to expect people to hop from one institution to another. Old method of developing a cadre and expecting them to continue with you for life is going to change. Attrition is going to be the norm,” Gandhi said.Addressing a seminar organised by the SEBI-managed National Institute for Securities...

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IndusInd Bank to raise up to Rs. 2,000 cr via infra bonds

IndusInd Bank today announced that it will raise capital to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crore through long-term infrastructure bonds.The mid-sized private bank informed the BSE: “The bank’s board of directors had, at its meeting held on January 13, 2015 approved the proposal for Issuance of long-term infrastructure bonds, and subordinated non-convertible debentures(NCDs)/bonds eligible to be included as Additional Tier 1 (AT 1) and Tier 2 (T2) capital of the bank up to Rs. 2,000 crore on private placement basis, as permissible under RBI guidelines.”The...

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Axis Bank to launch 'Burgundy' for HNI customers

Axis Bank will provide premium personalised banking services with dedicated managers to its affluent high net-worth individual (HNI) customers with preferential treatment with an intention to increase business from the segment.The third largest private bank will launch ‘Burgundy’ to offer personalised end-to-end services across segments.“The categorisation of this segment of clients will be entrepreneurs or self-employed people, senior salaried employees and small business owners. We are looking at a net salary credit of Rs. 3 lakh (per month)...

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Andhra Bank invokes Sarfaesi Act to recover loans from Agri Gold Projects

Andhra Bank has invoked the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Sarfaesi) Act to recover over Rs. 100 crore loans from Agri Gold Projects Ltd.A demand notice has been issued by Andhra Bank on February 16, 2015 to the Vijayawada-based company in this regard.The company is engaged in the generation of electricity using biomass as fuels and execution of infrastructure projects. It has been availing credit facilities from Andhra Bank since 2009, including a corporate loan of Rs. 26 crore,...

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IOB, Apollo Munich join hands to offer health, accident insurance

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Apollo Munich Health Insurance today announced that they are joining hands to provide specialised health and personal accident products to Indian Overseas Bank customers. Through this arrangement, IOB will sell Apollo Munich’s products in over 3,350 branches across the country, the companies said in a release issued today.Apollo Munich will offer customised products with a sum insured ranging from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 10 lakhs. IOB customers would be able to enjoy policies without any sub limits or co pay clauses,...

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Government may infuse Rs 18000 crore in public sector banks next fiscal

The Centre may look to infuse about Rs 18,000 crore into public sector banks next fiscal, more than doubling the allocation from the current fiscal after a number of lenders expressed concerns over their fundraising ability due to lack of support from the government.Since the beginning of this financial year, the government has provided an assistance of Rs 6,990 crore to nine of the 26 state-run banks on the basis of two new parameters of efficiency - return on equity (RoE) and return on assets (RoA). It had budgeted Rs 11,200 crore for capital...

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Virtual form of RuPay card on anvil

After launching the RuPay debit card, National Payments Corp (NPCI) is set to come out with its virtual form in the next few months, a move that will give further push to smartphone—based transactions.“We are planning to go for pilot of a virtual RuPay card over the next 4—5 months,” NPCI Managing Director and Chief Executive said here today.NPCI is the nodal agency for all retail payment systems under the Jan Dhan scheme.Under the virtual form, there will be no need of a physical card and a transaction can be done with the help of the 16—digit...

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Yes Bank to raise Rs. 500 cr for green energy projects

Private sector lender Yes Bank said it will be raising Rs. 500 crore through issuance of “green infrastructure bonds”, which will be deployed to fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.The bank claimed it is the first such issue in the country and the money will be used to fund solar power, wind power, biomass, and small hydel projects.The bond will have a tenor of ten years, it said in a statement, adding the issue has already been launched.The city-headquartered lender said it had made a commitment to fund 5,000 MW of renewable...

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Brace for a four-day bank strike from February 25

The four-day strike by bank employees’ unions, scheduled to begin on February 25, in support of their demand for wage hike, will be the longest at the all-India level in the country’s banking history. And, together with a Sunday that follows the four-day strike, the entire banking sector, and hence most of the financial services industry, will be nearly shut for five days.The strike, of course, will depend on the outcome of the tri-partite negotiations called by the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) to be held on February 20 in New Delhi. However,...

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Andhra Bank plans Rs. 120 cr pref shares to Govt

Andhra Bank will consider issue of equity shares by way of preferential allotment to Government of India to the tune of Rs. 120 crore.The bank proposes to issue and allot 1,32, 31, 888 equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 80.69 per share to Government of India after obtaining the approval of shareholders of the bank at the ensuing Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on March 12, 2015 in Hyderabad.In a regulatory filing with BSE, Andhra Bank has mentioned that the issue of allotment of equity shares to Government...

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Deutsche Bank eyes slimmed-down universal bank model

Deutsche Bank is focusing on plans for a slimmed-down universal bank as part of the management's strategic review where the group remains internationally engaged in most of its current activities but pulls out of unprofitable regions and business lines, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday.The bank would shut operations abroad that contribute little to the bottom line, the paper wrote, citing unnamed sources.The bank "doesn't have to do everything worldwide," Handelsblatt reported, citing an unnamed company source.The bank is considering...

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