ATM fraudsters auction data abroad, says SBI official

ATM fraud is an organised crime with international linkages for procurement of hi-tech gadgets and auction of data, Mr M S S Srinivas, Additional General Manager, SBI Switch Centre Mumbai said today.

“The fraudsters procure skimmers to copy ATM card data from as far as Ukraine and lately stolen ATM card data are auctioned at an international market,” Mr Srinivas said in an awareness programme on ATM frauds here.

A pinhole camera on the skimmer placed inside the card slot was used by culprits to read PIN number, he said.

The authorities had detected 29 Canara Bank ATMs fitted with skimmers in Chennai and eight in Bangalore recently. The fraudsters had stolen in 1.5 lakh data and sold them off to Russia, he said.

They used different techniques like tampering of ATM keypads, swapping of cards of unsuspecting customers and by using skimmers to copy the card data.

While ATM machine is built with maximum security and in-built camera, Mr Srinivas said low awareness among customers, online real time operations and anonymous identity accepted in case of CNP (Card not Present) transactions were some of the challenges faced by banks.

The SBI official has also advised ATM users change PIN numbers of their bank cards in frequent intervals to avoid frauds.

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Printing of MICR, IFSC code must on passbook, a/c statement: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India has made it mandatory for all banks to print the MICR and IFSC code on the passbook and statement of account of the customers.

“Currently, the MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) code is available on the cheque leaf along with the IFSC (Indian Financial System Code) code of the branch. On a review it has been decided that this information should also be made available in the passbook/statement of account of the account holders,” RBI said in a statement.

As per RBI guidelines, MICR code is necessary for all electronic clearing services (credit and debit) transactions.

IFSC code is a pre-requisite for national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) and real time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions.

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SBI to cut interest on auto, small biz loans

State Bank of India will reduce interest rates on vehicle loans and on loans to small and medium enterprises.

“We have already started adjustment of rates on the loan side. Auto loan rates will be cut today or tomorrow,” Mr A. Krishna Kumar, Managing Director, State Bank of India, told newspersons here on Saturday.

This will be followed by a reduction in the rates on smaller-ticket loans to small and medium enterprises, he added. On the likely impact of the interest-rate cut on bank profits this financial year, Mr Krishna Kumar said as about 47 per cent of deposits were under current accounts and savings accounts, net interest margins would not be impacted.

Following the repo rate cut of 50 basis points by the Reserve Bank of India on April 17, some banks, including ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, had already reduced their deposit and lending rates.

TARGET

For the year 2012-13, SBI is targeting 25 per cent and 22 per cent growth in deposits and advances respectively.

“As per rough estimates, the growth was not as high as expected during the last financial year, at 18 per cent and 15-16 per cent, mainly due to the general economic scenario,” he said.

As SBI had surplus liquidity, meeting credit targets for the current financial year would be a problem, he added.

During last year, the growth of the SME and farm sector portfolios was in the range of 18 per cent to 22 per cent, while mid corporate and retail segments showed ‘sluggish' growth.

Earlier, he inaugurated a small and medium city credit centre for speedy processing of loans to small and medium entrepreneurs.

nagsridhu@thehindu.co.in

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Bank of Maharashtra trims lending rates

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has decided to reduce its base rate to 10.5 per cent from 1 May. The interest rates on loans that are linked to base rate will be reduced by 0.10 per cent and the rate cut will benefit existing and prospective home loan borrowers, auto loan borrowers, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and all other categories of borrowers. Following the slash in the base rate, the bank on Thursday released its new floating interest rate structure.

As per the revised interest rate structure, the loan taken for the tenure up to and inclusive of 5 years up to Rs 25 lakh can be availed at the base rate of 10.5 per cent.

The loan amounting to Rs 25 lakh to 30 lakh taken for the same tenure will also come at the same interest rate, while as the amount exceeding Rs 30 lakh but less than Rs 75 lakh can be availed at the interest rate which is 0.5 per cent more than the new base rate and that of Rs 75 lakh and above will come at an interest rate which would be 0.75 per cent more than the new base rate.

The loan taken for the tenure above 5-years and up to and inclusive of 10 years and amounting to Rs 25 lakh will come at 0.2 per cent more rate than the base rate, while as the loan between Rs 25 lakh to 30 lakh will come at a rate which will be 0.25 percent more than the base rate.

The loan exceeding Rs 30 lakh but less than Rs 75 lakh will come at 1 per cent more interest rate than the base rate while as the loan amounting to Rs 75 lakh and above will come at a rate which is 1.25 per cent more than the base rate. The loan with the tenure of more than 10 years, but below and inclusive of 20 years will come at the rate which is 0.3 and 0.5 per cent more than the base rate for up to Rs 25 lakh and that between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. The loan amount exceeding Rs 30 lakh, but less than Rs 75 lakh will come at a rate more than 1.25 per cent of the base rate, while Rs 75 lakh and above will come at 1.5 per cent more than the base rate.

Source: Financial Express

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For Oriental Bank, Kingfisher Airlines account turns substandard

Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has turned into a non-performing asset for the Gurgaon-headquartered public sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce.

This follows the airline not servicing the interest payments on the bank's exposure of Rs 55 crore (pre-delivery payment finance for aircraft), sources close to the developments said. The repayments were to start in 2013.

OBC will make a provision when it closes its books for the quarter ended March 2012 as the account has turned substandard, they said. OBC's financial results for the financial year ended March 31, 2012, are slated to be released this month end.

The banking industry (13-member consortium) has a total exposure of over Rs 7,000 crore in Kingfisher, of which, Rs 4,000 crore is in the form of term loans.

The OBC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr S. L. Bansal, had in early March said that the bank would not shy away from financing viable units in the airline industry just because a few of the players had landed themselves in financial trouble.

The bank had recently given finance to low-cost carrier Indigo.

OBC is also likely to take a hit of about Rs 170 crore in 20 quarterly instalments from Air India's debt recast. OBC's exposure to Air India is about Rs 1,550 crore.

krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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