Govt to subscribe to SBI rights issue:

Finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Union government has decided to subscribe to the State Bank of India’s rights issue in a non-cash transaction [SBI,Bank] Confirming reports, the FM said, “the decision is a non-cash transaction which would see the bank (SBI) setting up a redemption fund that would comprise dividends and additional taxes that SBI would pay.” SBI’s Rs 17,000-crore rights issue will be one of the largest public offerings by an issuer in India. The government would need to pump in Rs 10,000 crore as its contribution to the offering. It holds controlling interest in the country’s largest bank after the shares were transferred to it from the Reserve Bank of India. If things go as per plans, the rights issue will be launched in the second week of February and the process will be over by the second week of March ’08. “If something on similar lines has to be done for other PSU banks, then it would depend on how the banks pay the dividends and additional taxes,” Mr Chidambaram added

Withdraw money on Moving Train !!!!!!!!!

Yes, Punjab National Bank is planning to install ATM on Delhi-Agra Shatabdi. [PNB,ATM] There is a new year gift from the Indian Railways to its commuters. After months of will-it-won’t-it speculations, the department has now decided to go ahead with the proposal for automated teller machine (ATM) facility on moving trains. As a beginning, the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) will install an ATM on the Delhi-Agra Shatabdi Express, which is likely to be operational by February 15. PNB was awaiting final approval and communication from the railways after which the work of installation of the ATM would begin. The ATM should be installed and become operational by mid-February. After the project’s success, the railways plan to extend similar facility on other routes too. Meanwhile, the railways propose to rope in six nationalised banks, including Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, Dena Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, for setting up ATMs at various railway stations.

Karnataka Bank revises rates

Karnataka Bank Ltd has revised interest rates on term deposits with effect from January 1. The interest rate on term deposits of one year to less than two years would be 8/75 per cent (8.50 per cent) and of two years to less than three years would be 9 per cent (9.25 per cent). Interest rate on term deposits of three years to five years would be 9.25 per cent (9.50 per cent). Domestic term deposits of senior citizens with maturity period of one year and above would attract 0.75 per cent more compared to the deposits of the general public. [Karnataka BAnk, Interest]

There’s no one to blame if your ATM hands you a fake note!

What do you do if you find a counterfeit note while withdrawing money from an ATM? You may be shocked to learn this, but there is little you can do. Forget about losing money, you could even be booked for cheating or possessing a counterfeit note. This is what norms of several banks say. “There is absolutely no defined mechanism to fix the responsibility or to check the veracity of counterfeit note claims from the customers,” a top RBI official from Mumbai said. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that ATMs are rapidly emerging as an alternative to bank branches and currently there are 31,000 ATMs across the country. These ATMs on average register 300 transactions a day. The number of counterfeit Rs 500 notes had gone up from 12,014 in 2005-06 to 25,636 in 2006-07. “We take our own precautions. But if something is suggested or designed, we will be happy to implement,” Mr B. Samba Murthy, CMD, Corporation Bank said.

Finmin no to interest subsidy hike on crop loans

The finance ministry has ruled out an increase in interest subsidy, which at its present level of 2 per cent will cost the exchequer more than Rs 2,000 crore this fiscal, given for short-term crop loans. The government has been giving a subvention of 2 per cent with a ceiling of Rs 3 lakh on the principal amount of crop loans with effect from the kharif season of 2006-07. The scheme has been extended to this fiscal as well. The interest subsidy is provided by the government to public sector banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks on the involvement of their own funds and concessional refinance to RRBs and cooperative banks through NABARD

SBI to open third branch in US

SBI is readying to open its third full-fledged branch in the US by end-fiscal, to widen its network abroad. The bank is likely to get the approval from the US Federal Reserve Board early next year and is understood to have received the first clearance from the New York State Banking Department. SBI has already two full-fledged branches in the US (New York and Chicago) and a representative office in Washington. The bank has a subsidiary in California - SBI California, which has six banks in the US - Los Angeles, Artesia, San Jose, Fresno, Congoa Park and San Diego. The third branch is expected to come up in New York and it will focus mainly on corporate lending.

Canara Bank redesigns brand identity

In an effort to fight the growing competition and to attract new customers, Canara Bank on Saturday announced a new brand identity. [Canara Bank, Brand] The new logo, which depicts interlocking triangles - one rich blue and the other a bright yellow - was unveiled by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram at a function in Bangalore. Created by brand consultants Ray + Kesavan WPP, the logo symbolises the bond between the bank and its stakeholders, which includes its customers, employees, investors, institutions and the society at large, bank executives said. Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director M B N Rao said it had become imperative to rebuild the brand in order to attract and retain customers, who now had a variety of alternatives. “We also have to take into account post-2009 scenario when foreign banks will have access to more organic and inorganic growth,” Rao said. He hoped that the new identity would particularly attract the younger generation

If you are frequent visitor to ATM, then read this..

Free ATM usage from April 2009 Recently RBI gave a statement that ATM usage charges across all banks will be free from April 2009. The customers feel happy about this because they are paying money on every transaction done through other banks ATMs ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.60, now they can save all those money. The banks are not happy because they were earning fee commission every time a non-customer used their ATMs and there will be drain on their profits. During the period when there was craze to open ATMs, Some of the banks joined hands to provide ATM services at reduced costs. Some smaller banks, to retain their customers joined hands with banks having wide ATM base. Some banks are refunding the charges incurred by their customers for using their banks ATM card at other banks ( only if they maintain some balance as stipulated by the bank) From here onwards banks will think twice before opening ATMs because of the costs associated with it. (rent, furnishing, power, machine, A.C., guard, security and many) The banks may force the customers to use ATMs for cash withdrawal. The charges for ATM card issue and annual charges may go up substantially. The other bank may not allow next banks customer to use his ATM. [ATM,Bank,RBI]

Intending to take Educational Loan, then read this...

The Educational Loan is going to be cheaper, say thanks to the government. The Government is thinking to bear interest burden on educational loans taken by students during moratorium period or the times when students are pursuing academincs and have not yet begun earning. The Manmohan Singh government is finalising a scheme in consulation with Planning commission. The corpus of the scheme is estimated to be Rs.4,000 crore and the Interest burden on the government is estimated to be Rs.650 crore a year. The above amount arrived by planners is based on that five lakh students from families earning Rs.2.5 lakh a year or less availed of the loans. The interest subsidy would be availabe for students meeting the economic bar set for beneficiaries and studying professional and technical courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The government is intending to implement the scheme from the next academic year 2008, also wants to ensure that the benefit should be available only for one loan. Untill now the education loans come with a clause which allows students not to pay interest during academic life. The interest for this period is added to the principal and repayment begin once the student availing of the loan starts working. This step by the government will be a breather to Banks who lend to students as they can lend more freely. This step is more useful to students as the courses take normally 3 to 4 years. By the time they complete the course and start earning their loan would have been increased by 30 to 50% by addition of interest. If the government takes this burden they will be relieved a lot.

Bank of Baroda Recruitment for Specialist in senior management category

BOB is recruiting for specialists in senior management category. Last date for applying 18.01.2008..http://www.bankofbaroda.com/recruitment.asp?artid=2102&modid=36

Deutsche Bank to infuse Rs 2,155 cr in Indian unit

Deutsche Bank said it will infuse an additional Rs 2,155 crore in its Indian operations. This includes Rs 1,470 crore Tier-I capital for the bank’s branches and Rs 685 crore towards equity of the newly formed non-banking finance company for which the Deutsche Bank group received approval recently. With this infusion, the group’s total capital in India will cross Rs 5,700 crore, making it among the highest capitalised foreign banks. The bank will use the additional funds for lending, both corporate and retail. Mr Gunit Chadha, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank India, said, “The fresh capital will allow us to offer greater local balance sheet financing for our corporate, institutional and retail clients.”

SBI goes aggressive on stocks

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, is aggressively scaling up its equity investments, for the first time since banks were allowed to invest in company shares over a decade ago. Till March 2007, the bank had invested a total of Rs 1,973 crore in shares of companies. In the nine months since then, it has added Rs 3,000 crore to its investment kitty, making investments of over Rs 100 crore in a clutch of blue-chip companies including GMR Infrastructure, Godrej Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Cairn India and DLF, besides closest rival ICICI Bank. Last year, the bank’s equity book had expanded by Rs 455.46 crore. “We have never looked at equity the way we are doing in the last one year or so. We are building (our investment portfolio) gradually and we intend to (continue to) do it,” said a senior SBI official. “There has been a shift in the financing of companies to a combination of debt and equity. If the bank has to have a relationship with the corporate, then it has to be in the debt and equity segment together. We are taking part in nearly all issues unless we feel the valuation is too high,” said the official.

Encashment norms for joint term deposit holders eased

The Finance Ministry has relaxed encashment norms for joint holder type term deposits under the tax-saving ‘bank term deposit scheme’ framed last year. This scheme was developed to encourage flow of long-term deposits into the banking system. In the event of the death of the first holder, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has now allowed the joint holder to encash the term deposit before its maturity. Hitherto, the scheme did not permit any encashment of term deposits before the expiry of five years.

ING Vysya's new deposit scheme

Private lender ING Vysya Bank has hiked interest rate on 120-day deposits by 25 basis points to 7.75 per cent in a bid to attract more funds. The bank has created a new slab of 120 days for fixed deposits. This slab was earlier clubbed with 91-364 days, drawing 7.50 per cent interest rate. The new fixed deposit scheme has been effected from December 15.

Union Bank to enter MF biz

As part of its ‘Vision 2012’ programme, Union Bank of India is planning to diversify into mutual fund business and will also explore the possibility of entering the venture capital arena. Mr M.V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, told newspersons that the meeting also decided to look for a partner to get into credit card business. The ‘Vision 2012’ is aimed at making Union Bank of India one of the three largest banks in the country and also becoming a global player with its presence in at least 20 countries. As of now, the bank has a branch in Shanghai in China and a representative office in Abu Dhabi. These apart, a full-fledged branch will be opened in Hong Kong in February next year. The bank would choose ‘hot growth spots’ for locating its overseas branches. He said that the bank would recruit another 16,000 employees over the next four years to support its diversification plans as also keeping in view the tremendous growth expected in the financial sector.

Bank Unions submit Charter of Demand (Wage Settlement) to IBA

As we are aware the wage settlement expired on 31.10.2007 and new settlement is due from 01.11.2007 And the Bank Unions have already submitted their charter of demands to Indian Banks Association. The copy of same is available for you. Click here to read more.http://groups.google.co.in/group/the-bank-page/web/Charter+of+demands-wage+settlement-bank.pdf

SBI mulls VRS for 40K staff

State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to introduce a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its subordinate staff in the next financial year. The proposed scheme aims to give chance to over 40,000 employees, who find it challenging to work in a computerised environment and competitive market conditions. "The nature of work has changed substantially due to introduction of core banking solutions (CBS) and automation. Besides, the work demands on staff are growing enormously to retain market share. Some of the subordinate staff should get a decent exit option," a senior SBI official said. He, however, ruled out any VRS for the clerical or officer cadre. There are three aspects related to VRS for this category of staffers. First, with computerisation and rollout of core banking platform, their role is limited. Second, even if some of them could be retrained, the cost incurred may not bring much benefit. Finally, they are not mobile.

RBI plugs loophole in forex management regulations

The Reserve Bank of India has detected and plugged a loophole in FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) regulations which some Indian companies were exploiting to raise funds abroad and bring to India. The regulations are related to repayment of advances that are paid by overseas investors to Indian companies for allotment of shares under automatic FDI route. Under these regulations, while Indian companies are allowed to receive advance payment from NRIs and overseas investors, no time limit was stipulated for issue of shares or refund of the amount. Taking advantage of this loophole, companies instead of allotting shares use the advance money for other purposes and refund it after two to three years, giving some vague reasons. On Friday, through a circular to banks and authorised foreign exchange dealers, RBI has plugged this loophole, stipulating that companies receiving funds from abroad as advance payment for allotment of equity shares or debentures should issue the instruments to investors within 180 days.

OBC is recruiting - Click here for more details

Oriental Bank of Commerce is Recruiting 200 Officers. Laste date to submit application is 14.01.2008http://the-bank-page.googlegroups.com/web/OBC-PO-2008.pdf

Banks asked to unwind guarantees to FIIs

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) from now on cannot avail of guarantees (irrevocable payment commitments) from banks for their payment obligations at the stock exchanges. In a circular to banks on capital market exposure, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said entities such as FIIs are not permitted to avail of fund or non-fund based facilities such as irrevocable payment commitments (IPCs) from banks, under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Banks have been asked to unwind all such guarantees given on behalf of FIIs within six months starting today. The RBI’s regulations under FEMA state that the payment for buying shares by persons resident outside India has to be made through inward remittances, with non-resident Indians (NRIs) having the option of paying through debits in their bank accounts in India. An official with a private sector bank, which was already including loans to mutual funds as capital market exposure, said this would have a marginal impact as only a few banks had not included loans to mutual funds in their capital market exposures.

Bank loans to equity MFs to be part of capital market exposure

Bank loans to equity-oriented mutual funds will now form part of the bank’s total capital market exposure, said the Reserve Bank of India. In its note the RBI said, “Banks are advised to be judicious in extending finance to mutual funds and grant loans and advances to mutual funds only to meet their temporary liquidity needs for the purpose of repurchase/redemption of units.” A senior official from a public sector bank said, “A short term loan to a mutual fund is a standby facility in any case. In India we have not seen a stage, as yet, of large-scale redemptions, which would make mutual funds approach banks for loans.” The RBI also said that irrevocable payment commitments (IPCs) issued to stock exchanges at the request of mutual funds for their secondary market purchases would also form part of banks’ capital market exposure. This facility, too, is not something that mutual funds normally use, the bank official said.

If you use CyberCafe to do Banking Transaction, Then you must read this

Every time you make an online bank transaction at a cyber cafe, you run the risk of losing all the money in your account, since you could leave traces of your password on the computer. A 27-year-old hacker, who used special software to get nearly 100 bank account passwords from cybercafes, was arrested in Bangalore. "It's a major crime," said SP (Cyber Crime-CoD) B A Mahesh. The hacker is Joseph, a diploma holder in computer science from Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu. A Bangalorean since 1999, he worked as a data entry operator before losing his job two years ago. Joseph came under the scanner of sleuths investigating a complaint lodge recently by Carl Braganza, HR manager at a software company. Braganza claimed that someone had hacked into his Citibank account on Oct 10 and defrauded him of Rs.1.27 lakh: Rs.87,200 was used to recharge cellphones and Rs.40,000 transferred to another bank account in Mumbai. The sleuths traced the hacker's IP address to Anu Cyber Cafe in Mahadevapura. They zeroed in on Joseph on November 29. When interrogated, Joseph confessed. Mahesh said Joseph visited cybercafes and installed a free software called 'Key Logger' on computers. "The software captures every stroke on the keyboard. If a person is checking his bank account on the net, all the details are recorded," he said. The number of visitors to cybercafes is high during the first week of the month, when people come to check their salaries. Joseph then went to the computer where he had installed the software and retrieved the data. Once he had the account details, he transferred money to his associates, who charged him a commission. The group recharged others' cellphones at discounted prices from the hacked accounts. " It is similar to a cellphone thief selling a stolen handset for half its original price," sleuths said. Some DOs and DON'Ts for those assessing sites at cyber cafe. DON’Ts Don’t leave personal documents at places where it can be picked up or viewed by others. Don’t log into online account from an insecure network. Don’t enter your log-in details on a website unless you are sure it is secure. A lock at the bottom or ‘https’ in the address field are signs of a secure website. Don’t follow links to banking sites. Don’t respond to e-mails that ask you to enter your bank details. Dos Type the bank’s URL yourself. Use other methods to enter details. Some banks have on-screen keyboards to avoid key presses. Scan your computer and update anti-virus software regularly. Times of India dated 15.12.2007

Corporation Bank offering ‘financial health check-up’

Corporation Bank will now offer a ‘financial health check-up’ for its customers. The bank is offering this service at two of its centres, Mumbai and Bangalore. Customers can get their finance portfolio examined, find out if it is a healthy mix and get advice on making investments. The bank plans to introduce this service at all its other important centres. The service in Mumbai was launched by Mr T.S.Vijayan, Chairman, Life Insurance Corporation of India. To supplement this service, the bank has also set up an ‘Investment Shoppe’, which is a one-stop shop that will offer loans, mutual funds (13 tie-ups), retail gold, demat services as well as offline and online trading. It will also offer non-life insurance products from New India Assurance, life products from Life Insurance Corporation. The bank can also collect direct tax, excise duty and custom duty with online remittance facility at this outlet. The bank is also running a pilot for ‘mobile banking’ at 2,000 merchandise institutions. “Mobiles are more secure than credit cards. The customer can transfer money from his account to his mobile and also use it instead of a credit card to pay his bills at a retail outlet,” said Mr Sambamurthy, CMD, Corporation Bank.

Canara Bank hikes offer price for Can Fin

Canara Bank has hiked its offer price to Rs 63 a share to the shareholders of Can Fin Homes from Rs 58 a share announced in August this year. The announcement to this has been made by Indbank Merchant Banking Services, which is managing the offer on behalf of the bank.

OBC is Recruiting - Click here for more details

Oriental Bank of Commerce is recruiting 200 probationery officers. Last date for application 14.01.2008

PSUs join talent hunt with big hiring plans

After a hiatus of sorts on large-scale recruitments, and with several rounds of voluntary retirement schemes behind them, public sector companies are back to hiring like never before. The trend is more pronounced in the case of PSUs in the infrastructure and banking sectors, with new inductions happening mainly at the entry level. According to Indian Institute of Banking and Finance estimates, public sector is slated to recruit over 1.5 lakh employees across various levels over the next three years. State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Bank of Baroda are among those working on plans to increase headcount. According to IIBF, public sector banks in the country are likely to recruit over 1.5 lakh employees over the next three years. SBI is looking to hire nearly 3,000 employees, mainly for its associate banks including the State Bank of Hyderabad, while others such as Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Andhra Bank are reportedly looking to expand their workforce by about 2,000 at various junior-and middle-management levels. Oriental Bank of Commerce is already in the market for recruiting around 200 Probationary officers in its first phase of officer-level recruitments.

Insurance investments, banking may need PAN

After the capital markets, the government is targeting the financial sector - banking and insurance segments - to make it mandatory quoting of permanent account number (PAN) for investment products. The government is vetting a proposal to make quoting of PAN as a requirement for investment in financial products such as fixed deposits and unitlinked insurance plans (Ulip) above a certain limit. Credit cards are also expected to be included in the new list. The monetary ceiling has been mooted at Rs 1 lakh initially. According to government officials, the finance ministry has started consultations on the front with the financial sector regulators.

IOB to accept tax payments

Tax payers may pay their taxes through the branches of Indian Overseas Bank. The only requirement is that the taxpayer has to open an account with any of their networked branches and register for E-See Banking (IOB’s Net Banking) with funds transfer facility. With this facility, income-tax, corporation tax, wealth tax, gift tax, fringe benefit tax, banking cash transaction tax can be paid through Internet. Customer needs to log-in to http://tin.tin.nsdl.com/etax or alternatively http://incometaxindia.gov.in and select “Pay Taxes Online” and fill up the requisite challan.

Srs. look ahead with reverse mortgage

Kolkata-based UCO Bank has, on Saturday, announced the launch of a reverse mortgage loan scheme for senior citizens. The scheme is targeted for supplementing pension and other monthly income for citizens over 60 years. The scheme, being new in India, will offer the seniors a regular fixed sum per month from banks and housing finance players, based on the value of their property that they live in. The owners will receive the sum for a period not more than 15 years. A dozen banks, including Allahabad Bank and Punjab National Bank, have already launched a reverse mortgage scheme.

Union Bank mulls rights issue

“We would be making the plans for the next financial year in February, and if we find there is a need for capital, we may look at a rights issue as an option,” Mr M.V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Union Bank of India, told. The Government currently holds 55.43 per cent stake in the bank, with public institutions including mutual funds, financial institutions and banks, insurance companies and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) having 31.1 per cent stake. Union Bank, on Thursday, also raised a debt of Rs 600 crore, which includes Rs 200 crore in perpetual debt and Rs 400 crore in Tier-II bonds. The bank is targeting a total business of Rs 1,85,000 crore of which Rs 1,05,000 crore would be from deposits and Rs 80,000 crore from advances. Currently, the total business is at Rs 1,65,000 crore. Mr Nair also said that the capital adequacy ratio of the bank after the introduction of Basel II norms in April next year will be 11.5 per cent. “The net interest margin (NIM) of the bank is also expected to dip marginally to around 3 per cent for the current fiscal from 3.05 per cent last year.” he said.

SBI tops customer complaints : RBI data

SBI has emerged as the bank with the maximum number of customer complaints in 2006-07 (April-March), followed by ICICI Bank, according to data available with RBI. SBI - the largest bank in the country - had a whopping 8,579 complaints in 2006-07. As against this, ICICI Bank has 5,048 complaints against it - a distant second. This is the first time the central bank has come up with such an exhaustive and dis-aggregated data on customer complaints. Total complaints against public sector banks stood at 21,660, out of which the SBI group alone accounted for more than half - 11,117. Of the 9,036 complaints against private sector banks, more than 90 per cent were against new generation banks - 8,211. In the credit cards segment, complaints against SBI stands at 0.73 per 1000 - much higher than ICICI Bank's 0.19.

12 banks sign financing documents for Delhi airport

Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd, which is taking up the modernisation of Delhi airport, signed key financing documents with its project lenders for Rs 3,650 crore and foreign currency loan of $350 million. The total debt requirement has been financed by Canara Bank (Rs 600 crore), IIFCL (Rs 500 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 500 crore), Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 400 crore), Central Bank (Rs 400 crore), Andhra Bank (Rs 250 crore), Vijaya Bank (Rs 250 crore), IDFC (Rs 250 crore), Bank of India (Rs 250 crore) and PNB (Rs 250 crore). The loan of $350 million has been financed by ICICI Bank, Singapore - $200 million and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi - $150 million.

5 PSBs to have majority stake in Payments Corp

Five public sector banks - State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India - will have the majority stake in a new company to be incorporated to undertake the payment and settlement work, currently being done by Reserve Bank of India. Initially the company, to be incorporated under Section 25 of the Companies Act, will have nine shareholders - five PSU banks, two private and two foreign banks. The non-PSU banks are likely to be ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered and HSBC. Initially, the proposed company-National Payments Corporation of India-will take over the RBI-run clearing houses in the four metros-Mumbai, Delhi Chennai, and Kolkata. The employees of these clearing houses will also be transferred on deputation to the new company.

BoE cuts rates by 25 bps to 5.5%

The Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years on Thursday, after a week of feverish speculation over whether it would act to shore up economic growth in the face of the global credit crunch. The Bank said it had cut its key rate by a quarter percentage point to 5.5 per cent. The European Central Bank left interest rates at 4.0 per cent on Thursday, as expected, resisting a growing global bias towards monetary policy easing.

HDFC plans mobile wallets, remittances

HDFC Bank, which already provides mobile banking facilities, is now planning to foray into mobile wallets. These will enable customers to use their mobile phones for transactions instead of carrying the debit or credit cards. “Our mobile banking users has doubled in less than six months of this year and with the growing trend, we are planning to introduce mobile wallets and remittances soon,” said HDFC Bank executive vice-president, retail banking, Rahul N Bhagat at the Banktech Congress in Mumbai. “We are looking at getting debit-card and credit-card services on mobile phones for transactions and introduce it in the rural areas,” he added. The bank is also focusing aggressively on ATM expansion. Kotak Bank has invested around Rs 20 lakh for developing mobile banking services. Currently, there are 1.6 million mobile banking users in India

Trust banks to draw up your will and execute it too

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.More and more banks are keen on offering services such as will drafting, execution and trusteeship for management of property of the deceased. For customers, it perhaps makes more sense to entrust their wealth to a bank, which already has experience in handling financial matters. For banks, it is an opportunity to earn fee income and also cross sell other investment products. Some banks such as Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra have been offering the service for quite some years now and the latest entrant in this segment is Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP). CBoP offers this service through its joint venture, Centurion Executorship, Trusteeship, Real Estate Management and Advisory Services Pvt Limited (CERMA) and Bank of Maharashtra through its fully-owned subsidiary, Maharashtra Executor and Trustee Company (METCO). While CBoP caters to customers with a net worth of $1 million, Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra offer this service to everyone. Charges for drafting range from Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000. For execution and management of trusts, banks charge about 1-2 per cent of the value of the assets as fees.

Now, withdraw cash without ATM cards

If you are falling short of money while on a shopping binge, you can ask your friend to SMS a system generated personal identification number (PIN).The PIN can be used to withdraw money from his account in an automated teller machine (ATM). NCR, a global self service technology major, has developed an interactive technology for cash withdrawals without an ATM card. It is in talks with a leading private sector bank to offer this technology. “We are also in talks with a couple of other banks to offer our technology. The technology solution will offer services such as stock trading, shopping, mobile money transfer and bill payments through interactive ATMs. However, the system generated PIN can be used only once. Banks are willing to spend on this technology,” said country sales manager of NCR India’s financial solutions division Mr Manjunath Rao.

KVB ties up with IDBI Capital

Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has tied up with IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd to provide online trading facility on both BSE and NSE for its demat account holders. These transactions could be put through idbipaisabuilder.in of IDBI Capital and the service would be available from March 1, 2008, Mr P. K. Kuppuswamy, Chairman, KVB said.

Centurion’s service for NRIs in Canada, UK

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.Non-resident Indians in Canada and United Kingdom can get all information regarding account operations through ‘Post Box Service’ without incurring any courier charges. Centurion Bank of Punjab has launched ‘Post Box Service’ in the two countries for NRI customers who can use the service to send documents, statement and cheque requisition, account instructions, electronic banking application form, mandate application form, change of address form, PIN re-generation, debit card re-issue or any other account operating instructions including FD opening or renewal instruction. The service will be provided free of charge. The documents should be sealed thoroughly and sent through ordinary inland postal service in the above countries. The service cannot be used for sending cheque, demand draft, cash or any other monetary instrument.

SBI requires Law Officers - Click here for more

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it. SBI is recruiting for Law Officers

SBI is hiring - click here for more details

State Bank of India is hiring for the post of Customer Relationship Executives (contractual basis)

Banks look to sell bad loans to clean up books

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.A number of banks are planning to put on the block loans with a face value of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore to clean their balance sheets before the fiscal year ends. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, UCO Bank are among some of the banks that are keen on offloading poor quality loans from books. To being with, bidding for PNB’s loan portfolio opened on Monday. The bank is looking at selling 59 loan accounts with a face value of Rs 400 crore for cash and another 10 accounts for security receipts in return. State Bank of India is planning a circle-wise auction. The total face value of the loans is said to be Rs 1,000 crore. Bank of Baroda has invited bidding from December 13 for 100-odd loan accounts with a face value of Rs 400 crore. Union Bank of India has asked the bidders for only security receipts against the sale of bad loans. This would mean that only asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) can bid for the Union Bank’s auction. However, the size of the auction is very small - around Rs 100 crore - since this is the first experiment by the bank. Kolkata-based UCO Bank, too, is eyeing the market with the loan book of Rs 200 crore, but is it looking at a combination of both cash and SRs.

'All Arabs will prefer Islamic banking’

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.Hussein Hamid Hassan is considered as the father of Islamic finance. He received his PhD from the faculty of Sharia at the Al Azhar University in Cairo in 1965 and holds two degrees in law from the International Institute of Comparative Law, University of New York. He chairs the Sharia Supervisory Committee of many Islamic banks in the Middle East, and has advised several governments. An expert in Law, he had been the attorney general for the government of Egypt between 1969 and 1970. He has advised several governments in the Middle East and CIS countries on establishment of Islamic Finance Institutions. According to Mr Hassan, Islamic financing is the most equitable form of financing since it enables the creation of wealth without fuelling inflation or stoking a financial crisis.

Banks refuse dollar loans to exporters

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.Suddenly, foreign currency loans have become a scarce commodity. Indian banks draw foreign currency credit lines from international banks to lend to local exporters. These credit lines have now dried up with the subprime fiasco severely impacting the global money market. Under the rules stipulated by the Reserve Bank, banks can charge a maximum of Libor (London inter-bank offered rate) plus one percentage point for such loans, commonly called packing credit in foreign currency (PCFC). Libor is the international benchmark rate for bulk money. “Liquidity has become so tight that we would be losing money if we give PCFC loans to exporters,” said the head of trade finance of a private bank.

Bank staff to strike work today

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.Over 45,000 employees, under the banner of State Sector Bank Employees Association and 2,500 officers under the banner of All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) in the subsidiary banks of SBI, are observing strike on Monday to oppose the attempts of SBI to merge its associate banks with itself. On December 4, over 24,000 officers, under the banner of Associate Banks Officers Association, in all these banks are also observing the strike for the same reason.