Dewan Housing Q4 net up 15% at Rs. 162 cr, to pay Rs. 2 final

Dewan Housing Finance Ltd reported a 15 per cent increase in net profit at Rs. 162 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015, as against Rs. 141 crore in the year-ago period.

For the FY2015, the housing finance company clocked a 17 per cent rise in net profit at Rs. 621 crore (Rs 529 crore in FY2014).

The board of directors has recommended final dividend to be paid out of the current year profits at Rs. 2 per equity share of Rs. 10 each to equity shareholders.

Housing loans sanctioned during the reporting year were up 27 per cent at Rs. 28,497 crore. It disbursed loans aggregating Rs. 19,822 crore, up 19 per cent over the previous year.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

KYC norms breach: RBI imposes fine on three banks

Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce have been imposed with a monetary penalty of Rs. 15 crore each by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC)/ Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms.

“Failure on the part of these banks to take timely remedial measures had aggravated the seriousness of the contraventions and its impact,” RBI said in a release.

The RBI also cautioned eight other banks -- Central Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Vijaya Bank – “to put in place appropriate measures and review them from time to time to ensure strict compliance of KYC requirements in future.

“The penalties have been imposed in exercise of powers vested in the Reserve Bank…taking into account the violations of the instructions/directions/guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank from time to time. This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank and its customers,” the central bank said.

RBI said it received a complaint from a private organisation, on the basis of which a scrutiny of fixed accounts opened in its name in Mumbai based branches of certain public sector banks was undertaken in July 2014.

“With more complaints and involvement of other banks coming to light, a wider thematic review was conducted. In all, 12 branches of 11 Public Sector Banks were covered.

“The scrutiny/thematic review looked into the modus operandi of the alleged frauds involving accounts of certain organisations in these banks, deficiencies/irregularities while opening Fixed Deposits (FD) and extending Overdraft (OD) facility there against them. Besides, the effectiveness of systems and processes in place pertaining to implementation of KYC norms/AML standards in respect of these accounts was also looked into,” the RBI added.

The findings revealed violation of some regulatory guidelines as also other disquieting actions on the part of the banks such as non-adherence to certain KYC norms, monitoring of transactions in customer accounts, RBI’s instructions regarding funds received through Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), opening of FD accounts and granting overdrafts without due diligence or process, weaknesses in the internal control systems, management oversight, use of internal accounts for parking customer funds and involvement of middlemen/intermediaries in opening of accounts as also subsequent operations in those accounts.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

BoI pact with insurance Cos for Govt. social security schemes

Bank of India partnered with insurance companies New India Assurance Co and Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance to roll out the government’s social security insurance schemes.

“The New India Assurance and Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company will issue a Group Policy to the Bank and the Policy would start on June 1, 2015 for one year. Enrolment is likely to start from May 1, 2015,” the bank said in a statement.

It added, “No proposal form required from account holder. Account holder has to give auto-debit request form to the Bank and will get acknowledgement cum certificate by the Bank immediately. The claim request will be forwarded through the respective bank branch for settlement of claim by the insurance companies. The bank account will get credited. If no nominee is given, the proceeds will go to nominee of bank account.

As per the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY) scheme guideline, bank customers in the age bracket of 18-70 years will be eligible for risk coverage of Rs 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability and Rs 1 lakh for partial disability. The premium is just Rs 12 per annum plus service tax. A person has to opt for the scheme every year. She/he can also prefer to give a long-term option of continuing in which the account will be auto-debited every year by the Bank.

As per Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna (PMJJBY) scheme guidelines, customers in the age bracket of 18-50 years will be eligible for coverage of Rs. 2 lakh for life insurance. The premium is just Rs. 330 per annum (plus service taxes as applicable), which will be directly auto-debited by the bank from subscribers account. Initial enrolment under the scheme will be for one year period which would be renewed every year as per customer auto debit mandate in this regard.

In case of joint account holders, each person can take Rs. 2 lakh cover by paying the premium each.

V R Iyer, Chairperson and MD, Bank of India, said, “Bank of India has a customer base of 70.13 million (7.01 crore) who can benefit by these Union Government social security initiatives as per their eligibility in this regard. Cumulatively till now, Bank has opened more than 18.2 million accounts under various FI initiatives and out of it 7.02 million (70.2 lakh) accounts have been opened since launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) in August. The Bank would drive to enrol maximum number of eligible Savings Bank accounts holders after launch of the above schemes though involvement of all its field functionaries including Business correspondents.”


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

UCO Bank cuts base rate by 25 bps

Kolkata-based UCO Bank has reduced its base rate by 25 basis points (0.25 per cent) to 9.95 per cent with effect from May 1, this year.

Interest rate on deposits across all tenors has also been reduced “with immediate effect”, it said in a release.

“UCO Bank reduces its Base rate by 25 Basis points to 9.95 per cent with effect from 1st May 2015, and, reduces Interest rate on deposits across all tenors with immediate effect,” the release said.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

Andhra Bank ‘poised to go national’

Andhra Bank will emerge as a truly national bank, with a presence from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, while maintaining its growth in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, its Chairman and Managing Director C.V.R Rajendran said.

He was addressing customers and the public after inaugurating the Sagarnagar branch in the city on Thursday morning. He said that during the past 16-18 months the bank had added more than 600 branches. "We have 2,500 branches at present and in the next one or two years we will add 1,100 branches more. Many of the branches will be outside AP and Telangana. It does not mean we will neglect the two states, our stronghold, but we will focus more on other states. The bank can no longer remain confined to the two Telugu states. It has to emerge stronger and face competition," he noted. He said AP and Telangana accounted for 51 per cent of the business of the bank at present, but it would come down to 35 per cent, with the growth in other states. "Ideally, we want to have one-thirds of our business in AP and Telangana and the rest in other states," Rajendran said.

He said the bank would focus more on retail lending. He said the agricultural debt waiver schemes of the AP Government and Telangana had hit the bank in both states, and the lending had been affected.

Referring to the NPAs (non-performing assets, or bad loans), he said bank staff were working to recover them. "Our employees are peacefully exerting pressure on the borrowers to pay back the loans. There is nothing improper about it. We are employing Gandhian methods. We are not sending goondas in the guise of recovery agents like the private banks," he said.

Rajendran, who is retiring soon, said, "The worst period is over for the bank. We are at present doing business of Rs 2,85,000 crores, of which Rs 1,30,000 crores is advances. We will cross the Rs 5,00,000 crore mark in the next few years."


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »