Corporation Bank wins award for taking tech to rural areas

Contrary to popular belief, it was a public sector bank that walked away with the award for the best use of information technology in retail banking at the IBA & TFCI: Banking Technology Awards 2007, held on January 9, in Mumbai. Corporation Bank was the winner in this category, followed by Axis Bank as the runner-up. Corporation Bank has also taken technology to rural areas by introducing RFID/Smart Card based authentication devices that are operated by the business correspondents (BCs) at identified villages. The BCs serve as literal extension counters of the bank at these villages by providing basic banking services to people in rural areas

ICICI to list four subsidiaries

ICICI Bank will list at least four of its subsidiaries, starting with its brokerage arm ICICI Securities, and the process would commence within six months, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer K V Kamath said. Noting that ICICI Securities could be the first of the lot to hit the capital market, he said it could be soon followed by two insurance arms - life insurance unit ICICI Prudential and general insurance arm ICICI Lombard - and the bank’s housing finance arm. Kamath said there could be two more probable listings - that of mutual fund arm and private equity business ICICI Ventures, but they could take some time.