HDFC Bank elevates seven senior executives in bid to retain talent

HDFC Bank has elevated 7 senior executives to group heads of various businesses as it tries to groom talent and protect them from being poached by emerging rivals such as IDFC Bank and other payment banks.

India's second largest private sector bank has elevated Parag Rao, who heads the bank's card payments and merchant acquiring business, Nitin Chugh who is in charge of the bank's Digital Banking services, Nirav Shah who handles the SME portfolio, and Ravi Narayanan who helms the bank's branch banking vertical.

Others who have been promoted are Ashok Khanna who is the head of the auto loan division, Ashima Bhat who is currently part of the finance team, and Munish Mittal, the Chief Technology officer of the bank. HDFC Bank will now have 19 executives as part of its senior management team. HDFC Bank had seen three senior level exits in August this year, when Biju Pillai, Amit Kumar and Birendra Sahu quit to lead IDFC Bank's personal and business banking divisions.

The bank had also elevated Dhiraj Relli to head of HDFC Securities and Aseem Dhru as group head -business banking, rural, commodity and agri-lending businesses in June this year.

Although the bank has re vealed very little about its succession planning or management roles for senior staff, experts believe these promotions follow the entry of potential banking companies which are scou ting for experienced and proven bankers.

In December 2013, HDFC Bank had elevated its long time second-in-command Paresh Sukthankar as deputy managing director, a move that was interpreted as improving Sukthankar's chances of succeeding Aditya Puri as MD and CEO of India's most valuable bank.

Other private sector banks like ICICI and Axis Bank ha ve also faced the brunt of employee attrition after the launch of IDFC, Bandhan and several payments banks. Some bankers point out that the ability to retain talent has been the lowest in years with new entrants of fering generous pay hikes to employees especially at the junior and middle manage ment level.




Source : Economic Times

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IDRBT to develop digital banking framework

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) has announced plans to launch a digital banking framework within the next few months, aimed at incorporating new channels of payments.

A.S. Ramasastri, Director of IDRBT, told BusinessLine, “The framework/ platform being developed with inputs from banking sector players, technology firms, and IDRBT research teams, is also aimed at meeting emerging requirements in the e-commerce sector.”

Recent advances in Big Data and its analytics has thrown up immense possibilities in identifying areas of business propositions for banks, while meeting the choosy demands of their customers.

Research in this area has enabled banks to develop their own data warehouses for customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. Big data has, therefore, become the mantra for understanding new leads for banks, the likes and dislikes of customers, their behavioural analysis, and information security threats, among other issues.

Over the years, IDRBT, based in Hyderabad and part of Reserve Bank of India, has played a significant role by contributing through centres of excellence in analytics, mobile banking, cyber security, Centre for Open Source Systems, and Centre for Virtualisation and Cloud Computing.

“There has been a huge growth in data requiring specialised systems and tools to make sense of the information flow. While a lot of business intelligence has been built into banking systems, it calls for more advanced systems to extract information from Big Data,” he said.

Towards this, IDRBT is seeking to focus on new areas of fuzzy computing, neuro computing and hybrid neuro-fuzzy computing. By exploring new applications areas and designing novel hybrid algorithms for solving different real world application problems, the Digital Framework seeks to use the power of fuzzy and neuro computing to address complex, uncertain, and imprecise problems.

The concept of Fuzzy Neuro Computing gained importance to analyse and make sense of complex data that keeps flowing into the banking systems. By use of various computing techniques, it is aimed at providing solutions to make the right decisions.

PG DIPLOMA IN BANKING TECHNOLOGY

The IDBRT Director said the Institute is all geared up to introduce a Post-Graduate Diploma in Banking Technology (PGDBT) commencing from July 2016.

Describing the course as a unique programme designed to provide the Indian banking and financial sector a pool of talented professionals with technology expertise, he said this is a full-time regular one-year programme that provides essential learning inputs on technology implementation, integration, and management to meet the challenging technology requirements of the banking sector. The selection is based on CAT scores.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Dena Bank gets board approval to dilute government stake

Public sector lender Dena Bank has got board approval for dilution of government holding to up to 52 per cent and raise capital up to Rs 2,500 crore from various bonds.

"To raise equity capital of the Bank by diluting GOI holding up to 52 per cent, on obtaining necessary approval government," the bank said in a BSE filing.

Government shareholding in the bank was 65 per cent at the end of September 30.

Last year, the government allowed public sector banks to to bring down its stake to 52 per cent so as to meet capital requirement.

As per law, government holding at any moment must not come below 51 per cent to maintain the public sector character of the state-owned banks.

The bank said it has got board approval to raise Additional Tier-1 (AT1) capital up to an amount of Rs 1,500 crore in one or more tranche, in one or more instruments.

It further added that the bank has got board approval to raise Tier 2 capital up to an amount of Rs 1,000 crore in one or more tranche, in one or more instruments.

Shares of the bank closed down 0.80 per cent at Rs 43.45 on the BSE.



Source : Economics Times

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SBT launches ‘affordable housing loan’ scheme

State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched a ‘Housing for All (Urban): Mission 2022’ to provide affordable housing to families belonging to the economically weaker sections/low-income groups in the urban centres.

The scheme upholds the spirit of the ‘Swachh Bharath Mission’ by insisting on a toilet for every house that is built, a spokesman for the bank said here.

The loan can be accessed in all statutory towns of India as per the Census of 2011, the spokesman added.

As part of the scheme, loans will be advanced in line with the Centre’s target of providing ‘pucca’ residential houses for all urban Indian families by the year 2022.

The loans will be available for beneficiaries in two segments, viz. (i) those with a household annual income of up to Rs. 3 lakh under the economically weaker sections and (ii) those with a household annual income between Rs. 3,00,001 and Rs. 6 lakh under the low-income group.

The beneficiaries will be eligible for an interest subsidy of 6.50 per cent provided by the Centre, the spokesman added.

Simple documentation and relaxed norms makes access easy. The scheme is expected to improve the overall ratings on the standard of living and health conditions of the targeted group of citizens.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Bank officers serve notice for strike on Dec 11

The All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation (Aiboc) has given a call for a nationwide strike on December 11 in support of its various demands.

The notice of strike has been served by mail to all concerned, says Harvinder Singh, general secretary, Aiboc.

The one-day strike will be preceded by other types of protests including wearing of black badges while on duty on December 2; demonstrations at the headquarters of all banks on December 4; and mass demonstrations at major centres and state capitals on December 7.

PENDING ISSUES

Singh recalled that the Joint Note for the 1oth bipartite settlement was signed on May 25 but many issues were left pending on the assurance of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) that action would be taken without delay.

Among these are issues pertaining to retirees covered in the record cote; disciplinary matters; calling officers for work on Sundays/holidays; and anomaly in stagnation increments.

Singh said even settled issues of medical aid and reimbursement of medical expenses for retired employees through insurance, have not been implemented.

Despite the lapse of six months and our several reminders, no steps have been taken by the IBA to resolve them.

There is no move either to start negotiations or restart discussions, Singh said. The IBA has not extended even the normal courtesy of acknowledging Aiboc communications.

NAYAK COMMITTEE

These apart, the Centre is announcing and implementing policies based on the recommendations of PJ Nayak Committee to dilute stake in public sector banks; privatise them through denial of capital; put up a Banking Bureau Board; deliberately delay appointment of officer-directors on boards; pick private entrepreneurs as MDs and chairmen in Banks; and permit FDI.

But it has not cared to move decidedly to recover debts from wilful defaulters even as more leeway is being provided to them via asset reconstruction companies and strategic debt restructuring.

Singh also alluded to non-implementation of the understanding between Dhanlaxmi Bank Officers’ Organisation and the management reached in the presence of the Kerala Home Minister and trade union leaders.

In view of these, the executive committee of Aiboc felt that any delay in deciding on direct action will harm the interests of public sector banks and the job security of employees.

Also, there is a need for a re-look at the 10th bipartite settlement in view of the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission and salary settlement of LIC employees.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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