South Indian Bank rides the blockchain wave to complete overseas transactions

South Indian Bank has successfully executed overseas transactions using blockchain technology in partnership with a leading currency exchange house in West Asia.

With this, SIB joins a niche group of banks in the global market to exchange and authenticate remittance transaction messages electronically on blockchain in real time. The pilot transaction was successfully executed by Forex transaction from UAE to India.

The implementation of the blockchain technology in transaction platforms conforms to the bank’s strategy to embrace emerging and latest technology for ensuring faster as well as safe transaction settlement. Besides delivering customer exuberance, this technology is simple, automated and fully secured with minimal data loss.

At present, SIB is having inward remittance tie-up with 4 banks and 34 exchange houses in all the GCC countries and in South East Asian countries such as Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. The bank has been aggressive in digital innovations and has launched it’s in-house developed mobile app SIB Mirror+, which offers secured digital e-lock for its customers that enables them to lock their accounts at their convenience.


Source : Economic Times

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South Indian Bank raises Rs.490 cr via private placement

South Indian Bank has announced the successful fund raising of Rs.490 crore by way of private placement of Basel-III compliant Tier-2 bonds.

Besides augmenting Tier-2 capital, this exercise would further strengthen the capital adequacy ratio or the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) position of the bank to support the targeted business growth.

The capital position of SIB as on September 30 was 11.74 per cent, which is well above the minimum required level of 10.25 per cent.

VG Mathew, MD and CEO of South Indian Bank, said: “The infusion of fresh capital would improve the CRAR by 108 basis points, which will take care of the capital requirement for the coming year at the targeted business growth of 18 per cent.


Source : Economic Times

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South Indian Bank Q2 net up 22.4%

The Kerala-based South Indian Bank has posted a 22.38 per cent growth in its net profit at Rs. 93.38 crore in Q2 of FY16. Net profit in the corresponding period for the previous year was Rs. 76.30 crore.

V G Mathew, Managing Director and CEO, told reporters here on Saturday that the consistency in achieving operating profit, treasury operations and other income have significantly contributed for the growth in net profit in the second quarter.

Total business increased by Rs. 10,687 core to Rs. 93,251 crore, registering a 12.94 per cent YoY. Deposits increased by 13.58 per cent to Rs. 53,036 crore and advances increased by Rs. 4,344 crore to Rs. 40,215 crore, a growth of 12.11 per cent.

CASA of the bank increased by Rs. 1,757 crore, registering a growth of 17.03 per cent, and it now stands at 22.76 per cent of total deposits.

However, there was a growth in net NPA in the second quarter at 1.39 per cent against 0.9 in the corresponding period last year. This is because certain sectors like infrastructure, power, steel etc did not turnaround as expected, he said. “We are making efforts to recover the loans extended to these sectors and it will be reflected in the next quarter”, he added.

The bank has been focusing on various retail sectors for asset growth, which registered a substantial growth. Agri and MSME advances increased by 26 per cent, and home loan auto loan portfolios also increased by 38 per cent and 53 per cent respectively, he said.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank launches new mobile app

South Indian Bank has rolled out SIB Mirror, an innovative mobile application with shake to transfer funds and shake to know your balance features which are unprecedented in the banking industry.

V.G Mathew, MD & CEO launched the application at the Christ University Campus, Bangalore.

SIB Mirror, developed in-house is a one stop solution for many banking needs. The application acts as a virtual branch that offers different menus for transferring funds, tracking daily transactions, calculating interest, applying for deposits and loans and much more.

The unique features like gesture support for menu access, click to share account info and menu navigation using voice recognition make the application even more user-friendly. SIB Mirror is a free app and available in Android, i0S, Windows and Blackberry platforms, a press release said.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank to raise FDI limit by 10%

The board of directors of South Indian Bank has decided to increase the FDI limit by 10 per cent subject to shareholders/FIPB approval.

With the proposed increase, the foreign shareholding can go up to 59 per cent against the maximum permissible limit of 74 per cent prescribed under FDI policy in the case of private sector banks.

According to V G Mathew, Managing Director & CEO, the bank plans to raise further capital from the market to support its growth plan and the change in FDI cap is expected to catalyse the capital augmentation programme.

Meanwhile, the bank has also rolled out RuPay premium debit card in association with National Payments Corporation of India. The card comes with upgraded features and provide secured access to large number of ATMs, POS terminals, e-commerce Web sites and participating merchants across the country.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank reports 40% drop in FY’15 net

South Indian Bank has registered a 40 per cent drop in its annual net profit at Rs.307.20 crore ended March 31, 2015 against Rs.507.50 crore in the previous fiscal year.

The operating profit has also shown a 7.55 per cent decrease in the fourth quarter at Rs.816.27 crore against Rs.882.89 crore.

The decline in operating profit was due to increased provisioning requirements towards employee benefits based on the recently concluded industry-wide wage settlement and actuarial liability on superannuation benefits due to softening of market yield, V.G.Mathew, Managing Director and CEO said.

According to him, the year was challenging due to stress in corporate credit book especially in sectors like power and infrastructure. The increased provisions on account of stressed assets and provisions towards employee cost brought the pressure on net profit.

The net operating income registered a 5.45 per cent increase from Rs.1,767.24 crore to Rs. 1,863.31 crore. The growth in non interest income was Rs.128.61 crore during the year.

The financial year 2015 was a year of consolidation and the bank has introduced several measures aimed at refocusing on the retail segment for advances as well as deposits with very encouraging results.

During the period, he said the bulk deposits have been brought down from 29 per cent to 21.67 per cent and the core deposit recorded an increase of 20.61 per cent and CASA grew by 8.77 per cent. The NRI portfolio also grew commendably at 29.17 per cent.

He pointed out that the bank has decided to pass on the benefit on account of revision in liability pricing during the last year to the customers and has reduced the base rate by 30 basis points respectively.

There are plans to increase the branch network, extension counters and ATMs by 25, 25 and 150 units respectively during the current year. The current level of CRAR is comfortable and there is sufficient headroom for raising fresh equity/ bonds in case of need, he added.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank appoints V G Mathew as new MD & CEO

Private lender South Indian Bank has appointed V G Mathew as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for three years.

“...the Reserve Bank of India has conveyed their approval for appointment of V G Mathew as MD & CEO of the Bank for a period of three years,” the bank said in a filing to the BSE.

Mathew’s appointment will come to effect from October 1, 2014.

He was the Executive Vice President of the bank earlier.

For the quarter ended June 30, the bank had posted net profit of Rs. 126.65 crore, up from Rs. 114.84 crore over the corresponding period a year ago.

Source : The Hindu

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South Indian Bank Q2 net soars 30.5% on hefty margins

Kerala-headquartered South Indian Bank has registered a 40 per cent growth in NRI remittances during the first half of the current fiscal.

Briefing media persons after the board meeting here this morning, the bank Chief Executive V.A. Joseph said that the NRI remittances crossed the Rs 7,000-crore mark for the first time this year.

“Favourable rate of return on investment coupled with the depreciating rupee became a huge attraction for the NRIs to park their funds here. While this was not totally unexpected, we can’t expect the remittances to grow at the same speed in the coming quarters,’’ he told Business Line.

The bank has reported a 30.5 per cent growth in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2013.

“By maintaining our net interest margin at over 3 per cent and strategically managing the portfolio mix of liabilities, we managed to achieve such growth in our profits. We will strive to improve our growth momentum in the coming quarters,’’ he said.

Biz growth

Total business grew 12.67 per cent to Rs 75,610 crore from Rs 67,110 crore. Net NPAs increased to 1.39 per cent (0.86 per cent).

“This was on account of the stress in 2-3 corporate accounts and the fact that we did not grow our advances aggressively this year. The base has remained small,’’ he said.

(Advances grew 12.27 per cent from Rs 28,620 crore as at end September 2012 to Rs 32,132 crore at the end of the just-ended quarter).

Retail loans

The bank is concentrating on retail loans, which account for about 45 per cent of the total advances, Joseph said.

To a query on gold loans, he said: “It is the best form of advance as the recovery is excellent.’’

Gold loans at present account for 20 per cent of SIB’s total advances. The bank is targeting to increase it to 25 per cent by the end of the year.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank ties up with Regional Cancer Centre

While banks in general boast about village adoption programme, South Indian Bank possibly looked beyond this by tying with the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram for a noble cause.

“This tie-up with RCC is aimed at driving a noble cause in support of cancer patients,” says the Kerala-headquartered bank’s Chief Executive V.A. Joseph.

“With the incidence of cancer rather high at present and the treatment costunaffordable to the common man, we at SIB decided to join hands with RCC, Thiruvananthapuram to help them get a move on member enrolments. A member, if diagnosed for cancer at some point in time in his life, can get advanced treatment almost for free. RCC offers special discounts for multiple members in a family as well.”

“An individual can become a member by paying a one-time fee of Rs 500. In the event of getting cancer, RCC is committed to provide the member diagnostic and treatment facilities at the centre up to 100 times the membership fee (that is Rs 50,000),” Dr Joseph said.

South Indian Bank decided to add value by helping individuals enrol in this Cancer Care for Life Scheme, sponsored by RCC, Thiruvananthapuram through its branch network. “We expect that we will be able to offer light for millions of persons across Kerala and all other states by ensuring maximum enrolments under the scheme,” he said.

The association is just about a month-old, but South Indian Bank sources say the response to the scheme has been phenomenal.

The bank on its part has resolved to contribute 10 per cent of every membership fee, routed through any of its branches. “We have earmarked Rs 50 lakh for the current year,” the SIB Chief said.

RCC offers two enrolment option schemes. Under Plan A, an individual can remit a minimum amount of Rs 500 and get up to 100 times this fee, per person or pay Rs 1,400per family of three persons, Rs 1,700 per family of four persons or Rs 2,000 per family of five persons (Family includes spouse and dependent children.)

The membership fee under Plan B is Rs 10,000 per person.

revathy.lakshminarasimhan@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank cancer venture

Minister for Finance K.M. Mani inaugurated the ‘Cancer care for life enrolment’ programme through South Indian Bank branches.

Cine actor Innocent launched the scheme at the function in which Salim Gangadharan, Regional Director, Reserve Bank, and Thomas Jacob, Director, South Indian Bank, offered felicitations.

A one-time payment of Rs 500 will enable treatment benefit of Rs 50,000 from the Regional Cancer Centre here. Membership schemes are available up to Rs 10,000 for individual and family for treatment care of up to Rs 5 lakh.

V.A. Joseph, Chief Executive of South Indian Bank, said that Rs 50 lakh had been earmarked for subsidising this venture. Enrolment can be done through all branches of the bank.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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Three arrested in South Indian Bank appointment scam

Three persons, including two women have been arrested in connection with an alleged extortion racket offering officers’ post in private sector South Indian Bank Ltd here.

Police said the woman, who was the brain behind the racket, was at large after an Interpol alert in connection with another cheating case

She had reportedly cheated several people into parting with lakhs of rupees offering appointments in the Railways and Cochin Dewaswom Board and cases had been registered against her on this count.

She was arrested earlier in cheating cases and she pretended to be a relative of Therambil Ramakrishnan, MLA.

Police started investigating the matter two weeks ago on a complaint from the banks in this regard.

The modus operandi of the trio was to offer appointments in SIB without a written test and interview after paying them a hefty amount as bribe.

They had taken amounts ranging between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for the posts of General Accountant, Legal Officer and probationary Agricultural Officer for which SIB had advertised recently, police said, adding the exact amount taken from the public would be known only after they were questioned.

The scamsters led aspirant-employees to believe that a major portion of the money paid would go to certain Bank directors, police added.

The scam came to light when some of the victims approached the bank with fictitious appointment letters, with the bank seal and signature of the General Manager. It is suspected at least 10 such letters were issued to the head office of the bank here, police said.

The scamsters had issued appointment letters of SIB branches at Bangalore, Kanjirappilly and Thiruvananthapuram, police added.

Source: Financial Express

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South Indian Bank Q1 profit at Rs 115 cr

Thrissur-based South Indian Bank, which has a network of 753 branches across the country, has registered a net profit of Rs 115 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The bank carried out total business of Rs 75,123 crore against Rs 64,502 crore in the corresponding period last year, a statement from the bank said. Its net profit is down by 6.66 per cent compared with the first quarter of last year.

The deposits grew to Rs 43,584 crore from last year’s Rs 37,153 crore, while advances rose to Rs 31,539 crore from Rs 27,349 crore. The bank’s net non-performing assets have increased from 0.35 per cent to 1.12 per cent. South Indian Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, V.A. Joseph, said the performance of the bank was despite the ‘subdued growth of the economy’ during the period.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank Q4 net climbs 26%

The Kerala-based South Indian Bank has posted a 25 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 502.27 crore for FY’13 against Rs 401.65 crore in the previous fiscal.

Net profit for the fourth quarter increased to Rs 153.83 crore from Rs 121.95 crore, a growth of 26.13 per cent.

Dividend

The board has recommended a dividend of Re 0.70 per share against Rs 0.60 per share in the previous year.

Total business increased from Rs 64,136 crore to Rs 76,425 crore registering a growth of 19.16 per cent.

While deposits have gone up from Rs 36,501 crore to Rs 44,262 crore, a growth of 21.26 per cent, advances increased from Rs 27,635 crore to Rs 32,163 crore, a growth of 16.39 per cent.

CASA of the bank has increased from Rs 7,179 crore to Rs 8,233 crore which constitute 19.67 per cent of the total deposit.

Total income stood at Rs 4,769.22 crore during the year against Rs 3,830.50 crore in the previous year, registering a growth of 24.51 per cent.

Net interest margin

V.A. Joseph, Managing Director and CEO, said that despite subdued growth of the economy, the bank could achieve this performance due to improvement in net interest margin.

It has set a business target of Rs 92,000 crore by the end of next fiscal and proposes to open 50 branches and 200 ATMs.

The capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.91 per cent under BASEL II standards against the regulatory requirement of 9 per cent.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank Q4 net up 26%

South Indian Bank has reported a 26 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 153.83 crore for the fourth quarter of 2012-13 fiscal.

The net profit stood at Rs 121.95 crore during the same quarter (January-March) of the previous fiscal. Total income rose to 1,286.37 crore from Rs 1,076.36 crore, the bank said in a filing to the BSE.

For 2012-13 fiscal, the net profit stood at Rs 502.27 crore against Rs 401.65 crore last fiscal and the income stood at Rs 4,769.22 crore compared with Rs 3,830.50 crore.

During Q4, the net non-performing asset (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 0.78 per cent from 0.28 per cent. Gross NPAs during the quarter increased to 1.36 per cent from 0.97 per cent.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank achieves Rs 75,000-cr biz target

South Indian Bank has achieved the business target of Rs 75,000 crore as envisaged in Vision Document 2013.

V.A. Joseph, Managing Director and CEO, said the achievement is the culmination of the vision set in 2008. The total business of the bank in that year was Rs 25,000 crore.

The bank had set a goal to achieve a total business of Rs 75,000 crore, network of 750 branches, 750 ATMs and 7,500 employees by 2013.

“What makes this achievement special is the fact that SIB could achieve a total business of Rs 75,000 crore, 750 branches and 800 ATMs with just 6,400 employees. This achievement is testimony to the increased productivity of each SIB employee,” he added.

The average age of employees has been reduced to 35, compared to 49 in 2008. The bank has also increased its national presence with new branches in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

By 2014, the bank plans to achieve a total business of Rs 1 lakh crore with 800 branches and 1,000 ATMs, he added.

sajeevkumar.v@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank’s new deposit scheme launched

The new deposit scheme of South Indian Bank – SIB 750 – has been introduced in the market by film star Mammootty, the bank’s brand ambassador. The product was launched to commemorate the 750th branch opening.

Assuring interest rates of up to 10.10 per cent, the SIB 750 is envisaged as a limited period deposit scheme.

The function held in connection with the inauguration of South Indian Bank’s 750th Branch and 787th ATM at Pallikkara in Ernakulam District, was presided over by V. A. Joseph – Managing Director and CEO of the bank.

SIB Travel Card, another innovative offering from the bank was also launched at the function.

A real boon for frequent travelers, the travel card enables its users to withdraw money while abroad and in the particular currency of that particular country. Besides, if necessary, the card holder’s account can be topped up from any branch of the bank.

South Indian Bank executive directors Abraham Thariyan and Cheryan Varkey, Bobby M. Jacob, Managing Director, Anna Group of companies and Shyla Noushad, President, Kunnathunadu Grama Panchayath were the other dignitaries who spoke at the function.


Source: thehindubusinessline

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South Indian Bank business set to touch Rs 75,000 cr

South Indian Bank is all set to achieve a business target of Rs 75,000 crore by March 2013 as envisaged in the Vision Document 2008.

SIB's five-year business plan — Vision 2013 — was drawn up in 2008 to achieve Rs 75,000 crore business, 750 branches, 750 ATMs and 7,500 employees.

V. A. Joseph, Managing Director and CEO, told Business Line that the bank has been able to clock Rs 67,000 crore in total business as on date.

Its employee strength is at 6,800, the number of branches 740 and ATMs 775.

“We hope to achieve the target of Rs 75,000 crore and 7,000 people by the end of March 31. We might just exceed some of the targets,” he said.

Ten more branches are to be opened shortly in Gujarat, West Bengal and Maharashtra, he said.

The bank hopes to open another 25 ATMs by March 2013 taking the total to 800.

Joseph was here in connection with an event of Season Six of the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival in which South Indian Bank is the title sponsor.

This the second consecutive term the bank has sponsored the event promoted by the Kerala Government.

Responding to a question on the takeaways from being involved in this event, he said it would enable the bank to enhance its client base through close interaction with the public.

The prize money involved in the shopping festival is 101 kg of gold, which would be distributed through bank branches. Those who come either for registration or for getting the prize money could be potential customers in future, Joseph said.

The bank's association with the event has helped it add to its customer base.

Being a Government initiative and its local base with 350 branches in the State made eminent sense to be associated with the event, he said.

Moreover, this would also help drive financial literacy to an extent since at least 3,000 staff is directly involved in the shopping festival

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South Indian Bank eyeing 25% growth this fiscal

Kerala-based South Indian Bank hopes its business will touch Rs 1-lakh crore by March 2014. As on September 30, 2012, the bank’s business stood at over Rs 67,000 crore.

According to Cheryan Varkey, Executive Director, South Indian Bank will look to achieve 25 per cent growth in its business this fiscal. The bank’s advances stood at Rs 29,000 crore as on September 30.

“We have grown by 23-24 per cent till date (up to September). Though the current economic conditions do pose a challenge in achieving this growth, we are hopeful of growing our business as per our targeted plan this year,” Varkey told Business Line at the inauguration of its corporate branch here on Monday.

The bank will focus on small loans, primarily aimed at the traders’ community.

“We are looking at tapping traders in the textiles, pharmaceuticals and jeweller community to grow our advances,” he said.

Talking about asset quality, Varkey said, the bank would aim to bring down the share of gross non-performing assets to around 1.2 per cent of its total advances by the end of this fiscal. Gross NPA of the bank currently stands at 2 per cent.

Nafed loan

“Our asset quality has been good except for our Rs 150-crore exposure to Nafed (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd) which has slipped into NPA during the second quarter due to employee-related fraud,” he said.

The bank has already made a 15 per cent provisioning during the second quarter and plans to provide 15-20 per cent every quarter for the next 3-4 quarters. “We hope that Nafed will be out of our books by March 2014,” he said.

According to Varkey, there is likely to be some pressure on margins as the yield on advances was getting slightly suppressed.

The bank, which had a net interest margin of 3.1 per cent during the quarter ended September, aims to achieve a NIM of 3 per cent by the end of this fiscal.

shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in

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South Indian Bank net up 24% in H1 as interest margin improves

South Indian Bank posted 24 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 220.18 crore for the half-year ended September 30 against Rs 177.44 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

V.A. Joseph, Managing Director and CEO of the bank, stated that despite subdued growth of the economy during the first half, the bank could achieve this performance due to improvement in net interest margin.

The bank will be able to achieve the total business target of Rs 75,000 crore, 750 branches and 750 ATMs by March 31, 2013, as envisaged in the Vision Document 2008, he added.

The total business in the first-half increased from Rs 56,386 crore to Rs 67,110 crore on a year-on-year basis, registering a growth of 19.02 per cent.

While deposits grew 16.50 per cent, from Rs 33,038 crore to Rs 38,490 crore, advances went up 22.58 per cent, from Rs 23,348 crore to Rs 28,620 crore.

CASA grew 9.17 per cent from Rs 7,038 crore to Rs 7,684 crore.

The bank earned a total income of Rs 2,289 crore during the half year against Rs 1,751 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, a growth of 30.75 per cent.

The net interest income (NII) increased 28.20 per cent, from Rs 464 crore to Rs 595 crore. The Net interest margin (NII) rose to 3.09 per cent (2.97 per cent).

Annualised earnings per share increased from Rs 3.13 to Rs 3.80. And book value per share rose from Rs 17.87 to Rs 21.19.

The capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.43 per cent (under Basel-II standards) against the regulatory requirement of 9 per cent.

sajeevkumar.v@thehindu.co.in

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New South Indian Bank branches in Palakkad region

As part of taking banking services to common man and to expand its rural outreach (Meaningful Financial Inclusion), South Indian Bank has launched six more branches as well as five ATMs in the Palakkad region.

The newly opened branches are Engakkad, Kottayi, Palakkayam, Perumatty, Puthupariyaram, and Shornur.

Mar Jacob Manathodath (Palakkad Diocese) inaugurated the pension schemes NPS Lite & NPS on the inaugural function which was presided by V A Jopseph, MD & CEO of South Indian Bank.

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