Karur Vysya plans multi-city savings deposit scheme

The Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) a leading private sector bank in south India, will launch a new multi-city savings deposit scheme that will enable account holders operate accounts in any select city without incurring additional charges. The bank chairman PT Kuppuswamy said the scheme - sb freedom account, would be made operational before July 15 in 20 select cities in the first phase and subsequently extended to more cities. Waiver of bank charges for collection of local and outstation cheques, cheques and dividend warrants, issuance of demand drafts without commission rates, free funds transfer within KVB accounts were some of the key features of the scheme, he said. Kuppusamy said KVB planned to open 25 branches before the end of this fiscal.

Govt wants SBI to gain scale via merger of 4 subsidiaries

The government wants the State Bank of India to acquire its smaller associates to achieve scale and size. The government is working on a proposal, along with the SBI management, to merge four of its subsidiaries - the State Banks of Saurashtra, Mysore, Indore and Bikaner & Jaipur - with SBI to help increase its assets size by nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. However, leaving the bigger associates - such as the State Banks of Patiala, Travancore and Hyderabad - out of the merger will not serve the purpose of achieving size, insiders say. The seven associates put together have assets of over Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Associate banks such as the State Bank of Patiala, Travancore and Hyderabad, which have a strong legacy in their regions, will not be merged with the bank, sources in the government said. “It is possible that the smaller associate banks which do not have a strong regional presence will merge with the parent bank,” a source said.

KVB unveils triple `S' scheme

Karur Vysya Bank has unveiled the triple `S' - Spouse Senior Citizen Deposit Scheme. The scheme is applicable to term deposits opened in the joint names of husband and wife (where one is a senior citizen). In the event of the demise of either of the partners during the pendency of the deposit, the surviving spouse would be eligible to receive one per cent additional interest over the card rate of special interest offered to senior citizens from the date of the original deposit till maturity.

Canara Bank's new loan scheme

Canara Bank has launched a retail loan for financing tax return preparers selected by the Ministry of Finance. The loan scheme, called Canara Guide, was introduced to provide self-employment opportunities to unemployed or partially employed graduates all over the country. Under the scheme, up to Rs 60,000 would be sanctioned at interest of one per cent below the benchmark prime lending rates of the bank, with a repayment period of 60 months. A margin of 15 per cent would have to be brought in by the borrowers. The preparers would also be entitled to a six-month repayment holiday

Call for more ATMs as bank queues top frustration chart

In a ‘Queue Frustration’ survey by NCR-ACNielsen in five metros Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, queues in banks have been identified as the most frustrating among the set of all queues. Queues in the ticketing counter centres rank only second whilst bill payment queues rank third, followed by shopping malls and airport queues respectively. Delhi ranks the highest in the number of people stuck in bank queues. Across the other metros, around 37% of the respondents in Mumbai, 34% in Bangalore, 29% in Kolkata and 25% in Chennai face similar queue problems in the banks. A large number of them, around 68% indicated opening up of ATMs as a viable solution to this problem. In specific metros like Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, more than 70% of the respondents opted for increasing the number of ATMs whilst in Mumbai, only around 45% of them opted for an increase in the number of ATMs.

ICICI Bank issue subscribed 2.74 times on Day 1

ICICI Bank's follow-on public offer of about 9.88 crore shares was subscribed 2.74 times on the first day of the issue, according to data from the NSE Web site. Bids were received across the price band of Rs 885-950 for the issue, which closes on June 22.

RBI launches multi-lingual site

The Reserve Bank of India launched a multi-lingual site-carrying information in 13 languages. The site includes recent instructions of the RBI on customer service, frequently asked questions, lending rates of banks, banking ombudsman scheme, Right to Information Act and links to commercial banks' Websites. the site can be accessed at www.rbi.org.in/ commonperson or from the quick link 'for the commonperson' on the home page of the main RBI site.

Get online, not in line, to pay tax

Paying taxes has never been simpler with the authorities introducing online payment. The procedure for payment of taxes online is simple. To start with, you need to log on to NSDLTIN website (www.tin-nsdl.com) and click on the ‘e-Tax-online payment’ option. You will then be directed to a list of banks that provide the e-tax payment facility. Depending upon the bank you hold an account with, you need to click on the option and choose the tax challan applicable in your case. On opting for the challan type applicable, particulars such as the permanent account number (PAN) or tax deduction account number (TAN) as may be applicable, name and address of the taxpayer, relevant assessment year, type of payment and name of the bank will be displayed. Once the process is complete and the bank processes the online transaction, you will be issued an acknowledgment indicating the challan identification number (CIN). After a week of making the payment, the status of the payment may be verified at the NSDLTIN website under section ‘Challan Status Inquiry’.

Software tool for reverse mortgage products

Cashing in on the banking community's enthusiasm for reverse mortgage products, Nucleus Software plans to launch a reverse mortgage solution for banks and financial organisations in the next three months. The reverse mortgage solution is being offered as an upgrade of Nucleus' `FinnOne' range of lending solutions and hence does not require additional efforts on the part of banks and financial institutions to integrate it with existing systems

IDBI opens centralized treasury

Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) inaugurated a centralized treasury, which will act as a single point reference on interest and exchange rates for all its 434 branches. The treasury will deal the bank's investment portfolio, government securities, corporate bonds, money market, forex and will also provide proactive cash and interest rate risk management services. The IDBI Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V.P. Shetty, said. With the fixed income, equities, money market, foreign exchange and derivatives desks under a single roof, the information flow and decision-making will be seamless.

ICICI issue price band at Rs 885-950

ICICI Bank has fixed a price band of Rs 885-950 per share for its follow-on public issue of shares. At the lower end of the band, the issue price would be at a 2.5 per cent discount to the stock's closing price on Friday (Rs 908) on the BSE; at the higher end, it would be at a premium of 4.6 per cent to the last traded price. The book-building issue starts on June 19 and closes on June 22. Retail bidders, including existing retail shareholders, will be allotted shares at a discount of Rs 50 per share to the issue price. The bank plans to raise Rs 10,062 crore (including a green shoe option of Rs 1,312.5 crore) from the domestic stock market. ICICI Bank will raise an equivalent amount through an issue of American Depository Shares.

After core banking, PSU banks open call centres for better customer reach

A number of public sector banks are in the middle of setting up call centres this fiscal. This follows the implementation of core banking solution, which provides a centralised database and allows banks to deploy this new channel for customer service. The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, which already has a call centre, is planning to expand its capacity in a big way. Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank and Bank of India are in the final stages of setting up their captive BPOs, senior officials from these banks. So far, banks like SBI, Corporation Bank and Bank of India had outsourced call centres, which largely handle product and ATM-related queries. “In the next three months, we plan to introduce a few more products on the call centre platform,” according to a senior SBI official. Corporation Bank, the first public sector bank to bring all branches on the core banking platform, has a call centre, which services its credit and debit card clients. “The blueprint is ready for our own customer-management call centre, which we will launch soon,” said a high-ranking Corporation Bank official

ING Vysya new offering for high-income group staff

ING Vysya Bank launched a new product targeting the high-income group employees called `Orange Salary Account'. Mr Vaughn Nigel Richtor, Managing Director, ING Vysya Bank, said, "The product is ideally suited to customers who are not inclined to visit the bank's branches for operating their account but prefer to operate it from their home or office." The key features of the Orange Salary Account are customers can maintain a zero balance account, get an international debit card and also free unlimited ATM transaction at ING Vysya Bank and over 20,000 other bank ATMs. The account holder also gets free issue and usage of personalised multi-city cheques and also personnel assistance service at select centres. The bank is targeting employees working in software and ITes sector, MNCs and top-end corporates in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi

Direct forex trading: YES Bank joins the band

More corporate entities can now conduct forex transactions directly instead of instructing their banks to do so. This follows YES Bank announcing the launch of direct foreign exchange trading service for corporate clients. Union Bank and, more recently, Standard Chartered Bank had earlier announced such a facility for their clients. All the three banks have signed up with Reuters for Reuters Trading for Foreign Exchange (RTFX) - an electronic trading platform. "The customers will also be able to chat with the bank dealer," said Mr Ajay Mahajan, Group President, Financial Markets, Institutions and Investment Management, YES Bank. The bank has 500-550 corporate customers. There is no additional cost to the customers for using the system

SBI stake transfer Ordinance

The Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of an Ordinance to enable the transfer of Reserve Bank of India's entire shareholding in the State Bank of India to the Central Government. Informed sources said that the Ordinance route is being adopted to bring necessary amendments to the State Bank of India Act, 1955 as the Government is keen to complete the transaction before June 30.

ING Vysya's new savings scheme

ING Vysya Bank has launched a scheme known as `Freedom Savings Account.' The features of the account are a zero quarterly balance requirement and a zero penal charge for non-maintenance of minimum quarterly balance. The account holders would also be eligible for an international debit card. The account features would not be restricted to just salary earners, but would be available to all general customers of the bank. The account comes with an annual fee of Rs 1,000.

City Union Banks New Deposit Scheme

Its called CUB 500. The deposit is for 500 days. The interest payable is 10.75% p.a. for senior citizens its 11.00% p.a.. The minimum deposit to be kept is Rs.10,000/- and the Maximum is Rs.2,00,00,000/-. The deposit is effective from June 11,2007.

Dena Bank is Recruiting

Dena Bank is recruiting Clerks and Offiers for its various offices across India. For more details and application forms kindly visit www.denabank.com

Lending target: RBI raises loan limit for poor

Reserve Bank on Wednesday raised the limit of loan under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 and for housing loan from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per beneficiary. This assistance under the scheme is provided by the banks to low income groups at a concessional rate of interest 4 per cent. The target for lending under DRI scheme will continue to be one per cent of the previous year's total advances, RBI said in a notification. The decision follows the announcement made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech to raise the ceiling on DRI scheme.

Money transfer: A cash lifeline for the rural poor

After two days of driving almost 700 km on rough rural roads, a team of managers from money transfer company Western Union belatedly arrived at the town of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. Before Western Union opened a branch in the area, the villagers "had huge difficulties in receiving money", said Mr. Kapur,. There are 65,000 bank branches in India, but these are concentrated in urban areas, and about 80 per cent of India's 1.1 bn citizens lack access to financial services. India, however, is the world's largest recipient of remittances, according to the World Bank. Inward remittances from Indians working overseas surged from $2.1 bn in 1990-91 to $26.8 bn in 2006-07. Remittances can play a large role in driving income to impoverished areas and reducing poverty. Western Union is aggressively expanding in India to capture a share of this booming business by adding locations, offering faster and cheaper services than local banks and launching innovative marketing campaigns.

Pay your Advance Tax

15 th June is last day to pay your Advance Tax

Opening Savings Bank accounts (SB)

Different banks requirements are different for opening a SB account. But broadly we can state the requirements as below; 1) Duly filled account opening form. 2) Passport size photograph of person opening account. 3) Identity Proof ( Election Card, PAN Card, Passport or any card bearing Photograph of the person) 4) Address Proof ( Election Card, Passport, Electricity Bill, Telephone Bill or any bill containing address of the person) 5) Introduction by an existing account holder. 6) Initial Deposit. • What does account opening form contains ? It usually contains Name of person, Name of father/husband, Address, Date of Birth, PAN number details/F60 details, Education, Profession, Income, Movable and Immovable assets, Family details, Nomination details and many more. • Photo, Identity Proof, Address Proof are required to confirm the identity/ residence of the person. • Proper Introduction is obligation on the part of bank. • Initial deposit varies from bank to bank. Some banks open Zero balance accounts. Public sector banks require less initial deposits compared to their Private sector counterparts. • Many banks offer add on facilities with your SB account like ATM Card, Internet Banking, Tele Banking, Personalised cheque book, Multicity cheque book, Insurance at nominal rates/free insurance etc. Why does Banks are keen to garner more Savings Bank accounts? The banks are keen to have more and more SB accounts because: 1. Their customer base expands, which in turn provides them opportunity to cross sell their products. 2. These are low cost deposits. So the cost of deposits of the bank comes down with aggressive addition of SB accounts. 3. These are stable deposits unlike the bulk deposits where there is always threat that the depositor can close or transfer deposits.

ICICI Bank Follow On Public issue

ICICI Bank will raise Rs.8750 crore in domestic stock market through follow-on public issue. This is out of Rs.20125 crore which the bank plans to raise in domestic market and foreign market ( American Depository receipt or ADR). The bank has decided to reserve 5% in the present public offer for existing shareholders. The retail bidders will get 5% discount to offer price and also the payment is staggered one i.e., bidder need not pay full amount with application. The funds raised will be used for future growth needs of the bank.

Bank Stock News

Bank of Rajasthan said its shareholders have approved a bonus issue, wherein 2.69 crore shares of Rs 10 each will be allotted in a ratio of 1:4. Pursuant to the recommendation of the board of directors, shareholders have accorded their approval to the bonus issue at the extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) on Monday.

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