More banks cut lending rate

United Bank of India has said that it has decided to reduce its base lending rate from 9.90 per cent to 9.65 pre cent from October 12.

It said various term deposit rates have also been moderated downwards depending on periodicity and quantum of deposits. The deposit rate for 5-year and above period (up to Rs. 1 crore) has been revised down to 6.75 per cent from the existing 7.25 per cent.

Corporation Bank has announced the reduction of base rate for lending by 20 basis points. The bank informed the NSE on Monday that it has reduced the base rate for lending from 9.9 per cent to 9.7 per cent with effect from October 8.

Standard Chartered on Monday announced that it has reduced its base rate by 25 basis points to 9.5 per cent.

The revised rate will come into effect from October 5.

This move comes few days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its repo rate by 50 basis points on September 29.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Standard Chartered appoints new Group CIO

Standard Chartered (StandChart) announced the appointment of Michael Gorriz as Group Chief Information Officer.

He will join in the third quarter of 2015 and be based in Singapore, reporting directly to incoming Group Chief Executive, Bill Winters, the foreign bank said in a statement.

Michael will succeed Jan Verplancke, Director, current Group Chief Information Officer, who will retire after 10 years of service. Jan will leave on the completion of an appropriate hand-over period, the bank said.

Michael has prior experience at Daimler AG as Vice President and CIO. Michael (55) is a physicist and engineer by background and progressed through specialist research and design in aerospace to a general management role in Daimler Mexico. Over the past 14 years, he held various CIO roles with the group and since 2008 was responsible for strategy, planning and development of all IT systems, as well as the operation of all data centres and communication networks at Daimler AG.

Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, StanChart, "Michael is an immensely talented CIO, who has worked across our footprint. As a leader in digital transformation, he has the capabilities and experience to drive innovation and change in technology and operations, which are key to delivering our productivity goals and to enhancing our service to clients.”


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Standard Chartered bank holds global board meeting in New Delhi

Amidst reports of Standard Chartered shifting its headquarter to Asia, the UK-based bank is having its two-day global board meeting here starting on monday, reflecting increased importance of India in its global framework.

As India is the third largest profit centre of the Standard Chartered, the board may also consider separating Indian operations into a subsidiary as the banking sector regulator RBI is encouraging global lenders to set up subsidiary.

In 2011, India emerged as the largest profit centre for the bank. The other two largest profit centres are China and Hong Kong.

This would be probably the last board meeting of its global CEO Peter Sands before demitting office in June.

"We have two board meets a year outside UK. In one year, the board met twice in Africa. In another year, we met at Singapore and Malaysia," a Standard Chartered official said.

In the past also, the board had its meeting in India. It was held some two years ago, the official added.

Asked about the agenda for the meeting, the official declined to comment.

It is very unlikely that the global management will meet the political leadership like Prime Minister, Finance Minister in Delhi, the official added.

Last month, Standard Chartered announced a massive overhaul of the global leadership team, including a new group CEO and a new head for its largest market, Asia, replacing Standard Chartered veteran Jaspal Bindra.

While former CEO of Wall Street major JPMorgan Bill Winters will replace the embattled incumbent group chief executive Peter Sands from June, the London-headquartered bank asked Bindra, the present chief executive of Asia to leave by April.

Bindra was also the country head of its India franchise. Under Sands' tenure, total assets of Standard Chartered nearly trebled to USD 690 billion in June 2014 from USD 266 billion in 2006.

The bank also said three longest serving independent directors will also step down from the board.

Standard Chartered was the first and only foreign entity to have raised funds from India by issuing Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs). It had issued 24 crore IDRs in 2010 with every 10 IDRs representing one ordinary shares. The bank raised Rs 2,490 crore from the issue.

Source : Economic Times

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StanChart opens 100th branch in India

The largest foreign bank in the country, Standard Chartered Bank, has opened its 100th branch in the country.

The milestone branch was opened by the bank in Bareilly District of Uttar Pradesh.

Standard Chartered Bank has branches in 43 cities and a combined customer base of around 2 million retail customers and around 2,500 corporate and institutional relationships.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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StanChart posts muted growth during Jan-Sept 2013

Standard Chartered on Tuesday said it saw a “resilient performance” in the third quarter, slowed by the Group’s performance in South Korea and Singapore.

The London-based but Asia-focused bank said its income and operating profit grew by a “low single digit” for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, compared to the same period last year.

Income for the third quarter was down by a “low single digit” percentage compared to the same period in 2012.

Operating profit for consumer banking for the first nine months of the year was down by a “mid single-digit percentage”, with its operations in Korea having a “material impact”, the group said in a statement.

Excluding Korea, the Group’s consumer banking helped grow income and profits by “high single digit percentages“.

Income for wholesale banking was flat for the first nine months of the year, compared to the same time period in 2012, with operating profit for the sector was up by a “low single digit percentage” in the same time period.

“In the third quarter, we delivered a resilient performance despite an uncertain macro environment,” group chief executive Peter Sands said in the statement.

The announcement excluded the impact of a $260 million UK bank levy, the impairment of goodwill for Korea, and a payment of $340 million in August last year to a New York regulator for violating US sanctions on Iran and other countries.

The bank had posted a goodwill impairment of $1 billion in Korea, representing a lower value of assets in the country, in August.

Standard Chartered, in the same month, said its first-half net profit fell 24 per cent to $2.13 billion, with some of its businesses in emerging Asian markets seeing slower growth.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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StanChart India H1 net up 45%

Standard Chartered India’s net profit before tax rose 45 per cent to $450 million in the six-month ended June 2013, driven by higher net interest margin and growth in trade and working capital loans to corporates.

The foreign bank had posted a profit before tax of $311 million in the same period in the previous fiscal year.

NIM increased to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent due to lower cost of deposits, said Sunil Kaushal, Regional Chief Executive, India and South Asia, Standard Chartered.

Wholesale banking income in India grew 20 per cent to $682 million, while income from consumer banking was up 10 per cent to $245 million.

Rupee impact

“Consumer loans grew about 14 per cent, excluding the rupee depreciation. Also, the small and medium enterprise loans were driven mainly by short term trade and working capital loans,” Kaushal said adding that there was no pick up in capital expenditure loans.

There was a five per cent drag due to the currency depreciation on Indian income. It creates a lot of volatility for our clients, he added.

NPAs rise

Non-performing assets or bad loans jumped to $917 million in the January to June period. This was higher than the NPAs in full fiscal year 2012 that stood at $819 million.

Overall, the bank’s profit before tax dropped 16 per cent to $3,325 million on account of a decline of 55 per cent in profits from Korea.

Going forward, the bank said it remains “cautiously optimistic” for the second half in 2013.

beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in

Source: Financial Express

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StanChart puts office for sale

Standard Chartered Bank has invited bids for the sale of its 2.46 lakh sq ft office property located in Goregaon, Mumbai. According to reports, the idea is to consolidate the bank’s operations and relocate its staff to the bank’s two offices in Mumbai’s Fort area and Bandra Kurla Complex.

An advertisement issued by Jones Lang LaSalle, the property consultant roped in by the bank, said the standalone commercial building located on the Western Express Highway in Goregaon East comprises ground plus six floors. It also includes two basements and an independent club house. “The property to be sold is on an as-is-where-is basis along with furniture, fittings and equipment,” the ad added.

The last date for the bids is September 2. ccording to reports, the floor price of the property has been set at Rs 325 crore, valuing the property at Rs 13,207 per sq ft.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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Weakening rupee will push up inflation, fiscal deficit: StanChart

The rupee fall, which has slipped below the 60/dollar level, could worsen inflation and fiscal deficit concerns, according to a report by Standard Chartered.

The Indian currency has depreciated by about 7 per cent against the US dollar so far in June. It declined by more than 3 per cent since the US Fed announcement of tapering its quantitative easing programme on June 19.

“Our estimates show that a weaker rupee can add to inflationary pressure, widen the fiscal deficit and slow capital inflows, without having a positive effect on the current account deficit. Rapid rupee depreciation also affects business sentiment negatively as uncertainty rises, and worries about a possible financial crisis set in. We see a need to stem currency depreciation, but scope for short-term fixes might be limited,” the report said.

While the Reserve Bank of India has enough reserves to bridge a temporary balance-of-payments mismatch, the focus should be on medium- to long-term measures to improve the current account deficit and encourage stable foreign inflows.

According to the report, an additional oil subsidy burden of 0.15-0.2 per cent of GDP is an inevitable result of a weaker rupee. Every one-rupee depreciation increases oil companies’ losses by Rs 9,000 crore.

Difficult decisions

The Government will either have to reduce other expenditures or raise diesel prices more sharply to contain the fiscal deficit in a weak rupee environment. These are difficult political decisions with elections nearing.

High import intensity of exports, lack of a globally-recognised brand, and similar depreciation in other currencies are likely to limit any positive impact on exports, it said.

beena.parmar@theindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

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StanChart, HSBC charged with money laundering

In addition, amid the series of investigations starting March this year, Cobrapost exposed Indian banks of money laundering and Know-Your-Customer norms violation charges.

While the RBI claims to be taking action against the erring banks and their insurance associates, Cobrapost in its fourth investigation report has found two foreign lenders Standard Chartered and HSBC defaulting on similar practices by helping convert black money into white.

Presenting as a politician’s frontman, Cobrapost reporter visited HSBC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank with the same proposition as in the previous investigations and has claimed the two foreign banks being involved in converting unaccounted cash into legitimate money.

While online investigative magazine ‘cobrapost.com’ found some branch officials of 30 banks and insurance companies willing to convert unaccounted money into legitimate money, it has also come across ethical bankers who are unwilling to cross the line.

In a special feature on ethical bankers, Cobrapost said, “Not all is dark and grim in the Indian banking sector.

“Out of hundreds of banking personnel whom Cobrapost reporter interacted with across the country, there are a few bank managers who stood out as redemptive icons of the Indian banking industry. This special feature is dedicated to these 5 bankers who upheld the ethics and principles of banking.”

The bankers belong to Axis Bank (Balsubramaniam), Bank of Baroda (SK Garg), Canara Bank (Anurag Prakash) and two from HSBC (Ashish Agarwal and Akash U).

The magazine said that on approaching the above mentioned bankers with the proposition of converting a fictitious politician’s black money into white, they refused to accept any deposit in cash.

Further, these bankers insisted that every transaction be accompanied by the mandatory PAN card and a declaration of the source of income for all large deposits. They also refused to pay personal visits to the clients’ residence for any consultation and informed the client, right at the outset that any investment advice would happen only after a detailed financial assessment of the client.

“In word and in deed, they honoured the regulations of Reserve Bank of India and the Income Tax department,” the website said.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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StanChart, ADB partner to support MFIs across Asia

UK-headquartered, Standard Chartered Bank will originate and service $150 million microfinance institutional loans across Asia in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Under this regional programme, ADB will share the risk via risk participation and guarantee programme on this portfolio for up to $75 million. It will also enable Standard Chartered Bank to extend additional credit to microfinance institutions, the bank said in a statement.

Peter Heidinger, Global Head, Financial Institutions Group, Standard Chartered, said, “This partnership with ADB will unlock more funding for microfinance and extend support to the sector when it is re-emerging from a difficult economic cycle. We expect this programme to benefit approximately 30 microfinance institutions in Asia.”

beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline

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StanChart in talks to acquire Morgan's India wealth biz

Standard Chartered Bank, the Asia-focussed UK Bank, is negotiating to acquire the wealth management business of Morgan Stanley, which is exiting many businesses and reducing head count to improve profitability.

"Standard Chartered is the frontrunner to acquire the business," said a person familiar with the matter. "Many players have reviewed the business, but there is no certainty the deal will go through. The talks are still on," the source added.

A StanChart spokesperson declined to comment.

Morgan Stanley, faced with increasing regulations and the need for more capital, has been axing jobs and exiting business. Morgan Stanley India surrendered its bank licence and had laid off 13 employees from its securities business, which includes debt market and investment banking.

Morgan employs more than 400 people in various businesses.


Source: EconomicTimes

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Standard Chartered to pay $327 mn to resolve US sanctions case

British bank Standard Chartered will pay the United States $327 million to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, the US Treasury announced today.

US authorities said the bank had stripped messages on financial transfers routed through US banks of information that would show the beneficiaries were businesses and entities that fell under US sanctions.

The fines from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other US federal and local regulators took to $667 million the total the bank has been charged for sanctions violations.

In August the New York state banking watchdog fined Standard Chartered $340 million in the same investigation, saying it hid 60,000 transactions with proscribed Iranian clients worth $250 billion over 10 years.

“Today’s settlement is the result of an exhaustive interagency investigation into Standard Chartered Bank’s attempts to violate US sanctions programmes through the ’stripping’ from payment messages of critical information,” said OFAC Director Adam Szubin in a statement.

The sanctions avoidance involved mainly the bank’s London head office and its branch in Dubai, which masked the details of messages so US authorities would not see the real identity of those sending and receiving the payments.

“As a result, millions of dollars of payments were routed through US banks for or on behalf of sanctioned parties in apparent violation of US sanctions,” the OFAC said in a statement.

The OFAC added that the settlement also covered eight apparent violations of US sanctions on drug lords.

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Standard Chartered launches Yatra Platinum card

Standard Chartered in collaboration with travel portal Yatra.com launched the ‘Standard Chartered Yatra Platinum Credit Card’. The card offers a suite of benefits to credit-card customers when they make travel reservations on Yatra.com besides their regular shopping and other spends.

The co-branded card offers benefits like Cashback and accelerated reward points on spends at yatra.com, travel discount vouchers and free tickets.

Some of the attractive benefits that the card holder will get are – 10 per cent cashback on all travel spends at Yatra.com, waivers on Yatra.com domestic air cancellation fees for all tickets booked on Yatra.com, on-boarding vouchers (discount vouchers ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,500 for travel reservations across flights, hotels and holiday packages), four reward points for every Rs 100 spend on Yatra spends and fuel surcharge waiver on all fuel spends.

Commenting on the launch Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Regional Head, South Asia & Group CMO, Standard Chartered Bank said, “Indian travel industry is growing by leaps and bounds.  In the cluttered market of travel services, we see the need among customers for services that will not just facilitate their travel reservations but also reward them for their spends.”

To avail this facility, customers can apply for the card online at the bank’s website or at any of its branches.

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StanChart operating profit grows by mid single digit

Standard Chartered Plc today said the group’s operating profit has grown at a mid single digit rate in the first nine months of this year driven by good momentum across its businesses and geographies.

However, the company did not provide details.

According to its Interim Management Statement, the year to date income grew at “a mid single digit rate”, maintaining the trajectory seen in the first half of 2012 driven by the strength of the dollar against Asian currencies.

“Standard Chartered has continued to perform strongly in the third quarter of 2012. Although the environment remains turbulent, we are in the right markets and continue to see good momentum across our businesses and geographies,” Standard Chartered Group Chief Executive Peter Sands said in a statement.

Geography-wise, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and the Americas, UK and Europe region have delivered strong performances, it said.

The robust performance of Standard Chartered in these geographies has more than offset the continued currency weakness impacting India’s growth, a slowdown in Singapore’s wholesale banking business and a muted consumer banking performance in Korea, the statement added.

“We manage the Group conservatively with costs controlled tightly and risk well managed. Our balance sheet philosophy remains a source of competitive advantage with a focus on diversity, high levels of liquidity and a strong capital position,” Sands said.

The Interim Management Statement, excludes the impact of the UK bank levy but includes a payment of $340 million made to the New York State Department of Financial Services (NY DFS).

Excluding the NY DFS settlement, the Group’s operating profit for the year to date has grown at a double digit rate, the statement said.

“We continue to see growth on both sides of the balance sheet with inflows of deposits and continued disciplined loan growth highlighting the strength of our franchise,” the release said adding that the “advances to deposit ratio remains strong and was below 80 per cent at the end of the third quarter.”

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Standard Chartered Bank to pay Rs 2.97L for deficient service

The State Consumer Commission has dismissed a Standard Chartered Bank’s plea against a district forum order to it to pay Rs 2.97 lakh to a loanee for seizing her car for non-payment of a meagre sum of Rs 30,000 and selling it despite subsequent payment of all dues by her.

The vehicle was sold after the loanee refused to take it back as its crucial parts had allegedly been removed, rendering the vehicle to a non-working condition.

The Delhi State Consumer Commission observed the woman’s willingness to pay the remaining loan amount of Rs 30,000 showed she was keen to take the car back and there must have been some compelling reason for her for not doing so.

“It appears that statement of respondent (loanee) that the vehicle was not in a condition for taking possession needs to be accepted. It is evident that on one hand the appellant bank (Standard Chartered) is entering into an arrangement to return the car on payment of Rs 30,000 and on the other hand its officers allowed parts of the car to be removed which is a case of negligence and serious deficiency-in-service.

“We are of considered opinion that a case of deficiency in service is made out beyond doubt and to serve the ends of justice it would not be proper to interfere with the order of the district forum. The appeal is accordingly dismissed,” the bench presided by Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi said.

In her complaint to the district forum, Delhi resident Sunita Verma had alleged that her car, a Maruti Omni, bought in August 2001 on a loan from the bank was taken away by it on default of payment and despite her paying the remaining amount the vehicle was sold.

While admitting that Sunita Verma had paid the remaining Rs 30,000 to it, the Standard Chartered had alleged that the car was sold after she refused to take possession of it.

The district forum, however, had held the bank guilty of rendering deficient service and had directed it to refund her Rs 2.37 lakh she had paid to clear her loan and also another sum of Rs 60,000 as compensation and litigation cost.

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O. P. Bhatt on StanChart board

Former Chairman of SBI, O P Bhatt, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director on the board of Standard Chartered Plc. Bhatt is the first executive from the public sector on the board of a multinational bank.

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StanChart jumps 5% as Sebi permits IDRs' conversion

Standard Chartered today jumped by over 5 per cent on Indian bourses after financial sector regulators RBI and Sebi allowed partial flexibility in conversion of Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) into equity shares by investors.

Standard Chartered scrip on the BSE surged by 5.57 per cent to close at Rs 101.45 defying the weakness in the broader market. During the trading session, the stock rose by 8.22 per cent to touch the day’s high of Rs 104.

At the NSE, IDRs of Standard Chartered were up 5.26 per cent to settle at Rs 101.10. During intra-day trade, the stock touched a high of Rs 104 and a low of Rs 99.

The BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 141 points to close at 17,490.81 points.

Shares underlying the IDRs are deposited with the custodian, who holds the shares on behalf of the depository.

Yesterday, RBI and Sebi allowed partial flexibility in conversion of IDRs into equity shares by investors, while capping the funds to be raised through IDRs at $5 billion.

The move follows a proposal in the 2012—13 budget to allow two-way fungibility of IDRs, subject to a ceiling.

The decision is expected to help in attracting foreign entities to list their IDRs on domestic bourses.

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StanChart allegations cast light on former U-turn payments

The recent allegations levelled against Standard Chartered – that it schemed to hide billions of dollars of transactions, leaving the US financial system “vulnerable to terrorists, weapon dealers, drug kingpins and corrupt regimes” has shone the spotlight on a US regulatory loophole that for years allowed banks with US operations to maintain their activities with Iran, at the same time that the US maintained a tough sanction regime against the country.

Exemptions

US sanctions against Iran have grown over the years since 1987, strengthened through subsequent executive orders issued by President Bill Clinton that prohibited US involvement in practically all trade and investment activity.

At the same time, a number of exemptions remained, including for so-called U-turn payments that involved Iran but did not originate or terminate in an account in Iran itself — thereby allowing Iranian institutions with foreign accounts (say, in Switzerland) to transmit funds through New York to an account in another country, say, Germany. As with all US economic sanctions, those relating to Iran were administered and enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

U-turn payments were finally banned in November 2008, but even before that it was clear that US authorities had concerns about the use such payments could be put to.

In 2006, US authorities brought in a ban on any dealings with the Bank of Saderat, thereby denying it “direct and indirect access to the US financial system” and any attempt to “dollarise” its funds.

Disclosure requirements

Over the next two years bans were brought against individual banks linked to the Iranian government, until the US concluded that US foreign and national security could be compromised by the deals, and instituted the blanket ban.

In its strongly-worded order against Standard Chartered, the New York State Department of Financial Services argues that the bank did not comply with the disclosure requirements on any bank involved in U-turn transactions, and instead “concealed” some 60,000 U-turns, cleared through its New York branch, for Iranian clients.

Under pressure from Iranian clients fearful of delays in clearing funds, the bank chose to “transmit misinformation” to the New York branch by removing or misrepresenting wire transfer data that would have identified Iranian entities.

And when other European competitors began to exit the U-turn business, the bank positioned itself to fill the gap, the DFS contends. It suggests that the U-turn transactions continued even after the ban was introduced, and up to 2010.

Standard Chartered has been vigorous in its rebuttal, insisting that its review conducted by external and internal consultants revealed that only around 0.1 per cent of the U-turn transactions relating to Iran didn’t meet the regulations, representing just under $14 million, and that not a single payment had been for an entity the US at the time had deemed a terrorist one.

More details of exactly how there could be such a large discrepancy between the two accounts are likely to emerge next week, when Standard Chartered is due to appear before the DFS to respond to the order.

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StanChart sells distressed assets worth Rs 1,000 cr

Standard Chartered Bank, the largest foreign bank in the country in terms of branch presence, has sold Rs 900-1,000 crore of distressed assets to Mumbai-based International Asset Reconstruction Company (IARC), in an all-cash deal.

This took place in two tranches and was one of the largest deals in the asset reconstruction space in recent months, industry players said.

“Barring two or three accounts, the assets were purchased for cash considerations. We have started recovery in some of these accounts. The progress is reasonably good so far,” Birendra Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer of IARC, told Business Standard.

The loans were sold at a discount to the book value. Still, StanChart said it had made a profit by selling these distressed assets, as it had also bought the loans at a sharp discount from other banks and financial institutions. The transaction involved 150-175 mid-corporate and small & medium enterprises accounts.

“The sales are by our Alternate Investment Group business, which deals in distressed assets of banks and other lenders in the financial services sector. These transactions are profitable and part of our normal business activity,” the official spokesperson of the bank said, without offering details.

Sources said the bank sold these assets as it found an opportunity to make profit in an area where very few big-ticket transactions happen.

In 2011-12, StanChart’s net profit from its India branches fell 15.7 per cent, as it made provisions to cover the rise in non-performing loans. Both the gross non-performing asset ratio and net bad loan ratio deteriorated, by 321 basis points and 43 bps, respectively, during the year.

The total exposure to the top four non-performing accounts was Rs 1,989 crore last financial year, compared with Rs 336 crore a year before. In the industry segment, which includes loans to micro and small, medium and large companies, the net non-performing asset ratio widened to 0.65 per cent from 0.46 per cent.


Source: Business Standard

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StanChart launches first online credit card approval solution

International bank Standard Chartered Bank launched its first online credit card approval solution to enable customers to apply for the card online.

On application, the customers receive an ‘Approval In Principle’ (AIP) followed by a final approval after the completion of ‘Know Your Customer’ and credit approval processes.

The bank will extend this process to several other consumer banking products over the next few months.

The online application process involves verification of key customer details such as the permanent account number, mobile number, email ID and credit history through CIBIL, and other internal eligibility criteria. Customer can then choose his or her preferred card.

Mr Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Regional Head, South Asia & Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer Banking, said: “Digital solutions are the future of banking and Standard Chartered is making digital channels an important and integral part of the way customers bank.”

Standard Chartered also provides Breeze Mobile as its mobile banking application in India and other Asian countries.

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