Corporation Bank inks pact with Universal Sompo for accident death coverage

Corporation Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Universal Sompo General Insurance Co Ltd for providing accident death coverage to its savings bank account holders under Corp Signature, Corp Super and Corp Saral category.

A press release by the bank said here on Saturday that the bank provides free personal accident death cover of Rs.10 lakh to its Corp Signature and Rs.5 lakh to its Corp Super account holders.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Jai Kumar Garg, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Corporation Bank, and VV Vendhen, Head (Bancassurance), Universal Sompo General Insurance Co Ltd.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Dinabandhu Mohapatra takes charge as Canara Bank ED

Dinabandhu Mohapatra, the new Executive Director of Canara Bank, is a post-graduate with a degree in Law, CAIIB and Diploma in Computer Application.

Mohapatra, who took charge as ED of Canara Bank recently, started his banking career with Bank of India as Probationary Officer in 1984.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Vijaya Bank net up 43% in Q3

Vijaya Bank reported a 43 per cent increase in net profit at Rs.53 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2015, as against Rs.37 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The Bengaluru-headquartered public sector bank logged a 33 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in net interest income at Rs.738 crore from Rs.555 crore in the year-ago period. According to a bank statement, fee-based income increased by 31 per cent to Rs.122 crore (Rs.93 crore in the year-ago period).

Net interest margin improved to 2.44 per cent from 1.88 per cent, it added.

Gross non-performing assets and net non-performing assets in percentage terms deteriorated to 4.32 per cent (from 2.92 per cent) and 2.98 per cent (1.89 per cent), respectively, as per the financial results filed with the BSE. Shares of the bank closed at Rs.34.30 apiece, up 15.88 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Govt to infuse about Rs. 5,000 cr in PSU banks this quarter

Government will infuse about Rs. 5,000 crore of capital in the public sector banks in the current fiscal to strengthen the balance sheet.

“As committed, banks will get fund infusion in the fourth quarter. Banks will get about Rs. 5,000 crore,” Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal said on the sidelines of an event here.

Funds would be infused after Parliament approves the third Supplementary Demand for Grants in the upcoming Budget session.

Last year, the government announced a revamp plan ‘Indradhanush’ to infuse Rs. 70,000 crore in state-owned banks over four years, while they will have to raise a further Rs. 1.1 lakh crore from the markets to meet their capital requirements in line with global risk norms Basel-III.

In line with the blueprint, PSU banks will get Rs. 25,000 crore this fiscal and also in the next fiscal. Besides, Rs. 10,000 crore each would be infused in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Of the Rs. 25,000 crore earmarked for 2015-16, the government has pumped in about Rs. 20,088 crore in 13 public sector banks so far.

Talking about initiatives taken by the government to deepen the social security net, Duggal said banks are addressing last mile connectivity issues.

The Department of Financial Services is holding discussions with banks on a regular basis to sort out issues as soon as possible, she said.

Banks such as SBI and Andhra Bank are currently addressing the issue of Internet connectivity in the 800 identified areas.

Besides, steps are being taken to strengthen Internet connectivity in various parts so that Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is made seamless.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Bandhan Bank to scale up retail lending from next fiscal

Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank is on course to introducing new products and scaling up its presence in the retail lending segment. The offerings are expected to be introduced next fiscal onwards.

According to Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Founder, MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, “teams are being readied”, with offerings targeting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), housing reconstruction or “smaller value” home loans, vehicle financing and loans against property.

The teams, he said, will consist of members across verticals that include those with microfinance expertise, banking background and fresh recruits with hold over the local language.

“There are some common requirements across regions and states. Our retail loan portfolio will start catering to some of these common sectors,” he maintained.

Currently, some of the retail loan offerings are being tested across states on a smaller scale. For example, the (rural and suburb) vehicle financing loan scheme, started with lending (Rs.80,000 to Rs.1 lakh) to 1,000-odd people in the first phase and on a pilot-basis.

“It is more important for us to first create a credit repayment habit in a region. Hence, we start with selective lending and establish a repayment cycle first. Once this happens, we look at increasing our disbursements there,” Ghosh told BusinessLine on the sidelines of a summit organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Small portfolio

According to him, the portfolio of offerings will ‘deliberately’ be kept small. This is to refrain customers from having a negative perception.

“Too many offerings can actually create confusion and deter a customer. In many cases a bank’s branch manager does not know about a very specific product if there are too many variants of it,” he pointed out.

Apart from small vehicle financing (done through its micro-financing wing), Bandhan has started giving housing loans in some areas.

MSME loans too are being disbursed. Loans below Rs.1 crore are initially being targeted. Once the bank has a foothold, it will look to give MSME loans of Rs.1 crore and above. “Corporate lending will come at a later stage,” he added.

Meanwhile, over the last five months (September to January), the lender mobilised deposits to the tune of Rs.7,000 crore. The country’s largest microfinance lender, Bandhan, began full-fledged banking operations in August last year.

The bank has over 612 branches and more than 750,000 customers across 27 states. Its loan book stands at Rs.12,500 crore, against a targeted Rs.13,000 crore (till March 2016).


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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New SBI home loan product offers interest moratorium

The newly-launched SBI FlexiPay Home Loan will help working professionals fulfil their aspirations of owning homes, Badal Chandra Das, Chief General Manager, SBI Kerala Circle, has said.

The new product was unveiled at 14 circle offices of SBI along with the formal launch at the hands of Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya in Mumbai on Monday.

Flexible option

It is targeted at the salaried employees aged between 21 and 45 years with a required loan amount of not less than Rs.20 lakh, Das told newspersons here.

It allows borrowers to get higher loan amount compared to their loan eligibility under normal home loan schemes. Interest rates, loan to value ratio (LTV) and pre-payment conditions remain the same.

The eligibility is arrived at by calculating equated monthly instalment (EMI) to net monthly income (NMI) ratio, which will not be allowed to exceed 65 per cent. Twenty per cent is sanctioned extra.

The additional loan amount will help the customer in acquiring better and spacious living spaces for himself and his family even as their future needs are also taken into account.

To lower the impact of such additional loan amount on the monthly repayments in the form of EMIs, customers need to pay only the interest during a moratorium period (pre-EMI) of three to five years and thereafter pay moderate EMIs.

The EMIs will be stepped up during the subsequent years in consonance with the expected rise in salaries, Das said.

Among those present at the press conference were K Venkatachalapathy, General Manager, and Joy C Aryakara, Deputy General Manager (Personal Banking Business), SBI, Kerala Circle.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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