ING Vysya, Kotak Bank merger to be completed in 6-9 months

The integration of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank will be completed in the next six to nine months, according to Sumit Bali, Senior Executive Vice-President, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

He was speaking to newspersons at a press conference to announce the launch of a special debit card with the theme of Amish's latest book Scion of Ikshavaku here on Tuesday.

Following acquisition by Kotak Mahindra Bank, ING Vysya Bank got merged with the former from April 1, 2015.

"The first quarter results of FY 2016 will have the numbers for the combined entity,'' he said.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya Q3 net drops 13% on higher provisioning

ING Vysya Bank reported a 13 per cent drop in net profits in the December quarter on higher provisioning. The Bengaluru-headquartered private sector bank recorded a net profit of Rs 145.7 crore as against Rs 167.3 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter.

The net interest income (the difference between interest earned and expended) grew 18.1 per cent during the quarter to Rs 491.6 crore. The net interest margin was stable at 3.37 per cent. Other income decreased by 4.2 per cent to Rs 205.6 crore from Rs 214.6 crore. Other income in the December quarter last year included a one-off income of Rs 22.5 crore from the sale of a strategic investment.

Total income increased by 10.5 per cent to Rs 697.2 crore from Rs 630.7 crore. The operating costs were up 17 per cent at Rs 417.1 crore from Rs 356.4 crore and was mainly on account of higher accruals for pension benefit due to a sharp decline in interest rates, said Uday Sareen, CEO-designate of ING Vysya Bank.

The bank made a higher provision of Rs 61.5 crore (Rs 23 crore in the year-ago quarter). The provisions and contingencies during the quarter included Rs 19.8 crore amortisation related to asset sale to a reconstruction company in the first half of the current year. The provision coverage ratio stood at 64.88 per cent as at December 31, 2014.

“Our customer assets and deposits grew by a healthy 18 per cent. We continued to invest in our network and have added 10 branches and 15 ATMs during the quarter,” Sareen said. ING Vysya recently approved the proposed merger with Kotak Mahindra Bank. “We have commenced the process of getting the mandatory regulatory approvals for the same,” Sareen added.

The ING Vysya Bank scrip ended flat at Rs 978.20 on the BSE on Wednesday.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya appoints M Damodaran as Non-Executive Chairman

ING Vysya Bank, which is going to be merged with Kotak Mahindra Bank, today appointed former Sebi chief M Damodaran as its Non-Executive Chairman.

Meleveetil Damodaran, Director of the bank, has assumed charge as part—time Chairman effective January 14, ING Vysya Bank said in a statement.

Damodaran, a former IAS, was Chairman of the capital market regulator Sebi from 2005-2008.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya staff demand job safety post merger, to strike on Jan 7

Employee unions of ING Vysya Bank demanded safeguarding of their interests post-merger with Kotak Bank and threatened to go on strike on January 7 —— the day on which the Bengaluru—headquartered lender will seek shareholders’ nod to approve the Rs. 15,000-crore merger deal.

To ensure that interests of all the stakeholders are ’protected’, S A Sridhar from the ING Vysya Bank officers’ association said a “tripartite agreement” between Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), ING Vysya Bank, and employees and officers, be signed which will lay out all points in detail.

The All India ING Vysya Bank Employees Union and All India ING Vysya Bank Officers Association, which together represent 35 per cent of the Bangalore-headquartered lender’s over 10,000 employees as members, however, said they are not opposing the merger but want their interests to be protected.

“We have an apprehension as the new management at KMB does not have an Union and believes in outsourcing its work. What will be the fate of our employees after the merger?” Ramkrishna Reddy, general secretary of the employees union told reporters here.

He added that recently KMB wrote to all the ING Vysya Bank employees to allay the concerns but ‘bypassed’ the unions.

Reddy emphasised that the Uday Kotak-led bank should go through the union if it is “sincere” about its efforts.

ING Vysya Bank spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. However, a representative for ING Vysya Bank referred to legal opinion of advisors to the deal, which said such a tripartite agreement is “infructuous”.

There is no precedent of such an agreement in previous bank mergers, the legal opinion said, alleging that such a demand “seems to be red herring i.e. something that misleads or distracts from relevant issues“.

ING employees and officers want internal MoUs to continue post-merger, and also stressed that perks and benefits decided by industry body IBA be continued, Sridhar said.

Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson Rohit Rao said: “The merger process entails as per the Banking Regulation Act, approval of the shareholders and thereafter approval from the RBI in addition to CCI’s approval.

“All protection related to employees have already been captured in the scheme of amalgamation which upon approval by RBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank shall fully standby and are obligated to comply with including sections relation to employees job security, wages, pension, gratuity etc.”

As is evident we would like to start with good faith constructive approach that secures all employees and creates growth for all stakeholders including employees after the RBI order, Rao added.

In a letter, KMB’s Joint Managing Director Dipak Gupta has written to ING Vysya Bank’s Chief Executive designate Uday Sareen saying that KMB will be honouring all IBA settlements and bi-partite agreements.

In one of the biggest deals of 2014, KMB had announced an all-stock deal to acquire ING Vysya Bank late last month.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

No big job cuts after Kotak Mahindra-ING Vysya merger: Uday Kotak

Kotak Mahindra Bank chief Uday Kotak has assured that there will not be “any dramatic” reduction immediately in the number of employees following the merger of ING Vysya Bank. While ING has around 10,000 employees, Kotak Bank has around 29,000.

“We believe total number of employees will grow over time, but we don’t see any dramatic reduction in the net number of people in a hurry,” the Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Bank Uday Kotak told PTI after he announced the merger deal last evening.

“We have no plans to do any massive rationalisation of branches or capacity. We are committed to growing, this is a merger for growth, not for cutting,” he said, answering a specific question on whether KMB will be pruning some jobs. ING Vysya Bank Deputy Chief Executive Uday Sareen said cost cutting was not the objective of the merger.

“At the heart of this deal is not cost-efficiency; yes it is cost-avoidance as there are synergies post-merger. But this is not one merger which talks about cost cutting and that is an extremely important point which we would like to communicate,” Sareen said.

“In any merger, there is a concern among employees...but at the heart of this partnership is our people,” Sareen added.

Some analysts have said that KMB may have to prune its expenses. In a service industry like banking, people are a major cost component. Meanwhile, Kotak said the merged KMB will not look at having a presence internationally.

“We will leverage on our cooperation arrangements, we believe the India opportunity is where we are good at and the core business model is to concentrate on the country’s diversified financial services,” Kotak said.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

Kotak-ING Vysya merger: good fit, good deal

ING Vysya Bank makes a good fit for Kotak Mahindra Bank in many ways. The merger will help Kotak Bank expand its reach at a time when competition in the sectoris set to grow.

Kotak’s network of 641 branches will nearly double with the addition of 573 branches of ING Vysya Bank. Kotak Bank, currently present in metros, will benefit from ING Vysya’s better mix of rural and urban branches along with its strong presence in South India. The chunk of Kotak’s branches are in West and North India.

Next, ING Vysya has been building its high-yielding SME loan portfolio, which has been its core strength. The bank’s SME loan portfolio constitutes 35 per cent of its total loans. For Kotak Bank, this segment is less than 10 per cent of its portfolio. In the past couple of quarters, Kotak Bank’s loan growth has been led by the corporate, small businesses, personal loans and agriculture segments. Within the corporate segment, the bank has been increasing its focus on the mid-market space (Rs5-25 crore); and the merger will hence help the bank build its presence within this space.

ING Vysya also has a strong funding base. The current account, savings account (CASA) ratio is now 33 per cent, up from 27 per cent five years ago. More than half of this has been from current account deposits, which carries zero interest. For Kotak Bank, the differentiated rates on savings deposits has helped it build a strong deposit base. The merger of the two banks will enhance the CASA profile.

 Kotak Bank has also been sitting on excess capital (capital adequacy of 17.6 per cent) and has to cut down its promoter’s stake in the bank from the current levels of about 40 per cent to 20 per cent by March 2018 according to the RBI’s directive. Post-merger, the promoter’s stake in the combined entity will be 34 per cent. The capital adequacy of the combined entity will be about 16.5 per cent, which will continue to provide adequate headroom for growth.In terms of valuations, the deal is a good one. At about two times ING Vysya’s book value, the deal is reasonable in the context of past mergers within the banking space.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank makes changes in senior management

South-based old private sector lender ING Vysya Bank announced changes in its senior management across retail banking, IT, audit and operations.

The bank appointed Ashok Rao B as Chief operating officer with effect from October 1, 2014, and Ambuj Chandna as Chief Distribution Officer in Retail Liabilities effective October 13, 2014, the bank said in a statement.

In addition, Sonalee Panda will be Chief marketing officer and Anantha Raman to be Chief Auditor.

Current Country head – Branch banking, Marketing and Private Client group, Brett Morgan and head of operations A Meenakshi will pursue opportunities outside the bank, the bank said.

Shailendra Bhandari, MD & CEO, said, “I am pleased to announce the changes in the leadership team. This is in line with the bank’s philosophy to groom internal talent. Keeping in mind our ambitious growth plans, we continue to develop our leadership pipeline with job rotation, stretch assignments and international exposure.”

Source : The Hindu

Read more »

Arun Thiagarajan resigns from ING Vysya Bank

Arun Thiagarajan has relinquished his office as part-time Chairman and as a Director of ING Vysya Bank, effective September 6, 2014.

In a notice to the BSE, the Bangalore-headquartered private sector bank said it is taking necessary steps to appoint a successor in due course.

Thiagarajan had joined the bank, which has 547 branches and about 10,000 employees, in 2010.

The main stakeholders in ING Vysya Bank are: Dutch financial institution, ING Group (42.86 per cent stake); foreign institutional investors (28.16 per cent); and domestic institutional investors (15 per cent).

The bank had reported 18 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 143.4 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 as against Rs 175.1 crore in the year ago period.

Source : The Hindu

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank profits up 17.35%

ING Vysya Bank’s net profit for the second quarter ended September 30, 2013 rose 17.35 per cent to Rs 176.28 crore compared with Rs 150.21 crore in the same period last year.

The bank’s total income also rose 9.91 per cent to Rs 1,501.96 crore during Q2 this fiscal (Rs 1,366.49 crore). EPS (basic) stood at Rs 9.47 (Rs 9.96).

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya ties up with IRCTC to offer online ticketing services

ING Vysya Bank has entered into a business tie-up with Indian Railways’ IRCTC to offer online train ticketing services to its customers.

This facility enables ING Vysya Bank’s customers to book train tickets using ING Net Banking or ING debit cards. Over 1 lakh tickets were booked during the first month of the launch, the bank said in a statement.

The South-based private sector bank has been enrolled into a select category of financial services firms offering these services with a high level of safety, security and ease of transactions online. The bank has also invested in advanced systems and technology for processing faster refunds and cancellations.

“This tie-up is in line with our ongoing focus to offer the best online experience to our retail customers,” said Brett Morgan, Country Head – Branch Banking and Private Client Group, ING Vysya Bank.

Beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank’s Q1 profits up 34.58%

ING Vysya Bank’s net profit for the first quarter (Q1) ending June 30, 2013 increased significantly by 34.58 per cent to Rs 175.12 crore, compared with Rs 130.12 crore in the same period the previous year.

The bank’s total income also up 15.6 per cent, at Rs 1,553.08 crore for Q1 this fiscal (Rs 1,342.36 crore same period last year). EPS (basic) stood at Rs 11.25 (Rs 8.66).

Operating profit was higher by 50.3 per cent to Rs 326.9 crore and cost to income ratio improved to 51.2 per cent from 57.7 per cent. The bank’s operating cost in Q1 climbed by 15.6 per cent to Rs 343 crore.

Net interest margins

Shailendra Bhandari, Managing Director, said: “We continue to deliver on our core parameters. Our customer assets grew by 18.2 per cent. There was significant improvement in Net Interest Margins (NIM) at 3.56 per cent and return on assets (ROA) at 1.33 per cent for the quarter (3.29 per cent and 1.11 per cent respectively for the similar previous quarter).”

“In particular, the bank’s NIM was strong in what is normally a seasonally weak quarter, and we are well on track to more than match the full-year NIM of 3.52 per cent achieved last year,” he explained.

Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter increased by 23.9 per cent to Rs 425.4 crore (Rs 343.3 crore).

Overall asset quality continued to be robust, with gross NPAs and net NPAs at 1.75 per cent and 0.19 per cent respectively as on June 30, 2013 (1.97 per cent and 0.19 per cent respectively).

The provisions and contingencies of the bank jumped to Rs 68.1 crore, from Rs 26.7 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

“The increase in provision is on account of the slippage of two medium sized companies amounting to Rs 115.3 crore in our wholesale banking space. The asset quality in our other businesses, including SME and Consumer Finance remained solid,” said Bhandari.

Total deposits

Bank’s total deposits stood at Rs 40,923 crore at the end of June 2013, up 14.1 per cent from Rs 35,878 crore as at the end of June 2012. Gross advances are up 12.7 per cent to Rs 33,575.2 crore (Rs 29,801.6 crore). Current and savings deposits of the bank grew by 3.2 per cent to Rs 12,340 crore from Rs 11,952 crore as at end of June 2012. The CASA ratio was at 30.2 per cent of total deposits as at the end of June 2013.

The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of the bank as at June 30, 2013 was 12.59 per cent as per Basel-III requirement.

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank’s Q4 profits up 33.7%

ING Vysya Bank’s net profit for fourth quarter (Q4) of FY 2012-13 increased by 33.7 per cent to Rs 170.3 crore compared to Rs 127.4 crore same period of the previous year.

Bank’s total income for Q4 is up 20.9 per cent to Rs 624.1 crore.

Other income increased to Rs 200.4 crores. Operating costs in the quarter increased by 14.9 per cent to Rs 339.8 crore. Staff cost for the quarter includes provision towards the 10th Bipartite settlement between the IBA and bank unions.

Operating profit increased by 29.0 per cent to Rs. 284.3 crore and cost to income ratio improved to 54.4 per cent from 57.3 per cent.

Shailendra Bhandari Managing Director, said: “For the Quarter, net interest margin improved to 3.73 per cent and ROA improved to 1.34 per cent. Our asset quality continues to be best in class with Gross NPA at 1.76 per cent, Net NPA at 0.03 per cent.”

Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter increased by 32.7 per cent to Rs 423.7 crore from Rs 319.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The Net Interest Margins (NIM) was significantly higher at 3.73 per cent from 3.29 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Provisions and contingencies reduced to Rs 33.6 crore from Rs 56.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Provisions for the quarter included provision of Rs.21.9 crores related to mark to market receivable on the derivatives contract mentioned in the footnote.

Total Deposits were Rs. 41,334 crores at the end of March 2013, up 17.4 per cent from Rs 35,195 crore as at the end of March 2012.

Current and Savings (CASA) deposits grew by 11.4 per cent to Rs 13,435 crore from Rs 12,063 crore as at end of March 2012. CASA ratio was at 32.5 per cent of total deposits as at the end of March 2013. However, after adjusting for certain large CASA flow towards the end of the year, core CASA would have stood at 31.8 per cent.

The Credit Deposit Ratio (including customer assets) stood at 81.7% as at March 2013 as against 81.8% as at March 2012.

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

Corp Bank allots pref shares to Govt

Corporation Bank has allotted 47,85,137 equity shares to the Government of India on a preferential basis.

The bank informed the BSE that the preferential allotment committee of the board of the bank, which held a meeting on Friday, has allotted 47,85,137 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 416.32 a share to the Government on a preferential basis. This allotment will help the bank raise Rs 203.99 crore.

Consequent upon this, the issued and subscribed capital of the bank gets raised to 15,29,14,391 equity shares. With this preferential allotment, the holding of the Government in the bank gets increased from 58.52 per cent to 59.82 per cent.

The notification to the BSE said that the equity shares so allotted shall rank equally with the existing equity shares of the bank — including dividend, if any — and the same shall be locked in for a period of three years from the date of allotment — March 22, 2013.

It may be mentioned here that the March 15 extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the bank had given its approval for the preferential allotment to the Government.

vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

ING Vysya Life is now subsidiary of Exide Ind

Exide Industries Ltd said on Friday it has bought out three other partners holding 50 per cent stake in ING Vysya Life Insurance Co Ltd (IVL).

It informed the stock exchanges that the purchase deals involved erstwhile partners — 26 per cent of ING Group, 16.32 per cent of the Hemendra Kothari Group and 7.68 per cent from the Enam Group. The total consideration was around Rs 550 crore.

ING Vysya Life Insurance Co has now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exide. The Kolkata-headquartered battery-manufacturing company had first “invested” in the insurer in 2005.

jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline

Read more »

India Ratings affirms ING Vysya at ‘IND AA-’

India Ratings has affirmed ING Vysya Bank’s Long-Term Issuer rating at ‘IND AA-’ with a stable outlook on adequate capital position, improving asset quality and moderate funding profile.

“ING Vysya’s capitalisation is currently adequate. However, the bank will need to raise capital regularly to support its above-system-average growth targets. The bank raised Rs 970 crore of equity capital in FY’12 through a qualified institutional placement, in which its parent, ING Vysya NV, participated to the extent of its 44 per cent shareholding,” the ratings agency said in a statement.

The rating also factors in the bank’s relatively weak (although improving) profitability and relatively high proportion of loans to the traditionally volatile SME sector, the agency said.

Asset quality

Asset quality has improved over the two years ending first half of fiscal 2013. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio declined to 1.9 per cent at end-H1FY’13, aided by lower NPA additions (FY’12: 0.7 per cent of average loans; FY’11: 1.1 per cent) and fewer slippages from the low stock of restructured loans (H1FY’13: restructured were 1.4 per cent of total loans).

According to the agency, given the moderating economic environment and the bank’s focus on growing its SME portfolio, asset quality could come under pressure in the near-to-medium term.

The bank’s high provision coverage ratio (FY’12: 91%) would help cushion any immediate spikes in delinquencies especially from its SME portfolio.

A positive rating action could result from a significant and sustained improvement in the bank’s profitability and franchise, while maintaining stable asset quality and adequate capital ratios.

A negative rating action could result from any weakening linkage with the parent, including lack of timely infusion of capital or access to risk management systems, together with a significant deterioration in ING Vysya’s capitalisation.

Beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in

Read more »

RBI slaps Rs 30 lakh fine on ICICI Bank, Rs 55 lakh on ING Vysya for KYC violations

The Reserve Bank today slapped a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on ICICI Bank and Rs 55 lakh on ING Vysya Bank for violating certain norms related to Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering, among others.

"The penalties have been imposed on these banks for contravention of various directions and instructions issued by the RBI on Know Your Customer norms/Anti-Money Laundering Standards/Combating of Financing of Terrorism /Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002," RBI said in a statement.

These include "failure to obtain adequate documents for opening accounts, failure to carry out sufficient customer identification procedures, failure to examine control structure of entities."

The banks also failed to ascertain the identification of natural persons behind entities, to carry out effective enhanced due diligence, to carry out appropriate risk categorisation, besides delaying filing of the Suspicious Transaction Reports, RBI said.

On a careful examination of the banks' written replies to the show notices RBI had issued and the oral submissions made during the personal hearings, the RBI said "the violations were established and the penalties were accordingly imposed".



Source: EconomicTimes

Read more »

ING Vysya announces top-level changes in retail division

ING Vysya Bank has announced a top-level change in the retail banking division. The retail division will now be structured into two verticals -- retail assets and branch banking and private clients.

Additionally, ING Vysya Bank has appointed Brett Morgan new Country Head, Branch Banking, Marketing & Private Clients. Brett, who has over 17 years experience, moves from ING DIRECT Australia and will be based out of Bangalore.

ING Vysya Bank has appointed Mahesh Dayani as Country Head for Retail Assets, who will be responsible for its entire retail lending portfolio, which includes business banking, agri and rural banking, gold loans and consumer assets.

Uday Sareen, who was previously Country Head, Retail and Private Banking, is taking up an international assignment within the ING Group as Chief Strategy Officer at ING-DiBa in Germany, a bank press release said.

Read more »

ING Vysya's strong performance to continue

The strong performance of Karnataka-based ING Vysya Bank in the first quarter of FY13 is likely to continue through the rest of the fiscal. For its asset quality is good - due to the relatively low exposure to stressed sectors - loan growth is higher than average and CASA ratio and margins are stable.

The bank's loan growth, which has been about 3-4 per cent higher than the industry average over the past two years, is expected to continue on similar lines. ING Vysya's exposure to troubled sectors such as state electricity boards (SEBs), infrastructure, aviation, realty and oil companies is negligible, which indicates healthy asset quality.



Source: EconomicTimes

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank net rises 38% in Q1

ING Vysya Bank has posted 38 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 130.12 crore for the quarter ended June 30, against Rs 94.02 crore, in the same period the previous year.

Total income rose 32.7 per cent y-o-y to Rs 1,342.36 crore (Rs 1,011.29 crore)

Net interest income went up 31 per cent to Rs 343.3 crore. Net interest margin improved to 3.29 per cent (3.02) year-on-year.

The bank notched 48 per cent higher operating profit at Rs 217.5 crore.

It improved its net NPA to 0.19 per cent from 0.35 per cent and gross NPA to 1.97 per cent from 2.15 per cent for Q1 last year.

The CEO and Managing Director, Mr Shailendra Bhandari, said, “We have started the year on a strong note. Advance growth is at 22.9 per cent and deposits at 14.6 per cent. Our cost income ratio has improved to 57.7 per cent from 63.5 per cent resulting in a significant increase in the operating profit growth of 48.1 per cent.”

The bank did not restructure any assets during the quarter. It now has 1,001 outlets including 527 branches and extension counters.

Read more »

ING Vysya Bank launches new fixed deposit scheme, ING FD+

ING Vysya Bank launched a fixed deposit scheme, offering an interest rate of up to 9.5 per cent per annum for one-year deposits.

The scheme, ING FD+, is available for deposits up to Rs 15 lakh and customers can also do a partial withdrawal of the deposit in units of Re 1, the bank said in a statement.

Customers can also link the FD with their savings account and activate automatic sweep of funds from the FD, when needed, it said.

Customers can therefore withdraw cash from an ATM or write cheques to access their fixed deposit in case of a shortfall in their savings account.

Uday Sareen, Country Head - Retail ING Vysya Bank said: "You may avail the product through a simple SMS, access money from your FD from an ATM, and not get penalised for any premature withdrawals."



Source: EconomicTimes

Read more »