Result : UTI Bank

The Bank reported 40.2% growth in Net Profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 at Rs.184.6 crore as against Rs.131.7 crore for the same period last year. Other income was up 61.3% to Rs.279.7 crore from Rs.173.4 crore. The Net Interst Magin was at 3%. The cost of funds have gone up to 5.5% from 4.9%. The Net NPA fell to 0.68% from 0.95%. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.83%. The deposits grew 50% from Rs.34025 crore to Rs.50920 crore of which demand deposit constitute 37%. Advances grew 66% from Rs.19531 crore to Rs.32337 crore.

Result : HDFC Bank

The Bank reported 32% growth in Net Profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 at Rs.295.6 crore as against Rs.224.4 crore for same period last year. Other income was up 26% at Rs.373.3 crore as against Rs.296.1 crore.

Bank of England raises interest rate by 25 basis points

The Bank of England (BoE) unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point, its third increase since August as policy makers said the inflation may rise further. The nine member Monetary Policy Committee increased the repurchase rate to a five year high of 5.25% on Thursday.

DCB offers retirment scheme for staff

Development Credit Bank (DCB) has announced an early retirement scheme (ERS) for junior employees. This scheme is applicable to those falling in the categories of senior assistant officers, assistant officers, assistants and the subordinate staff. The be eligible for this scheme, employees either need to be of 40 years of age or should have completed 10 years of service. Out of 2000 employees, around 285 staff currently qualify for this scheme.

RBI gets freedom to fix SLR

In what will give greater operational flexibility to the central bank in the conduct of the monetary policy, the Cabinet on thursday gave its approval to pormulgate an ordinance to amend the Banking Regulation Act 1949. This is expected to release more funds for the industry whose appetite for credit has strained the availability of loanable resources. The central bank will now have complete freedom in fixing the floor and ceiling levels of the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR). At present there is a 25% floor and a 40% ceiling stipulated in the act itself. What is SLR? Statutory Liquidity Ratio which is commanly called SLR is a mandate for banks that says they must keep a stipulated proportion of their total demand and time liabilities, meaning deposits, in the form of liquid assets like cash, gold and approved securities, mostly government securities. Investment in these securities amounts to mandated lending to the government, leaving that much less of the banks' deposits for lending to the commercial sector. At present this is 25%. Implication: Lowering the SLR means banks have more money to lend where they get better yield than SLR securities. Bond Market will weaken as Banks take less Government papers.

Careers in Yes Bank

For a career in Retail Banking & Wealth Management in YES Bank kindly visit www.yesbank.in/careers.htm

Corporation Banks' " Shop, Swipe & Save" offer

Corporation Bank Debit card customers can get 1% cashback on all purchases made by them using the card at merchant establishments (minimum transaction value should be Rs.1000). The reward period starts on 15.01.2007 and will be 100 days long. A customer can get maximum of Rs.1000 during the period.

ICICI Bank's Swipe your card and drive a car

As part of its retail banking initiative. ICICI Bank has introduced a new service of sanctioning car loans in about an hour for its savings bank account customers. " Loans on the Spot" allows a customer to swipe his debit card at the electronic data capture terminals, stationed at dealers' outlets, to check the pre-approved loan offered by the bank. the pre-approval loan offer is made to a customer based on his profile at the bank, taking into account the quarterly average balance and other parameters. The terminal will generate a unique number and a pre-approved slip, which the dealer can use to obtain a sanction from ICICI Bank. In the first phase, ther service will be availabel at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

Syndicate Bank revises PLR

Syndicate Bank has hiked PLR by 25 basis points to 11.75% wef 03.01.2007

Corporation Bank won ' Niryat Bandhu' award

Corporation Bank has been awarded the prestigious 'Niryat Bandhu'-"Excellence Award" instituted by the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO).

ICICI banks - Trade Roaming Current Account

A perfect solution to cater to both your international and domestic banking needs. ICICI Bank's Trade Roaming Current Account is a unique amalgamation of domestic banking features of the Roaming Current Account and Global Trade Services, to offer a composite banking solution to exporters and importers. Trade Roaming Current Account is a zero balance account where the client can avail of all the domestic services offered, along with special rates on EXIM services. No commitment of quarterly average balance, Free Inward Remittance, no charges on FIRC or BRC issuance are among its special features. You can also avail of preferred rates on select trade services depending on the trade volume commitment. The least you need to do is to choose the variant suitable for your business, keeping in mind the trade volume. Trade RCA offers efficient and faster inward and outward remittance. It offers all the facilities of domestic banking requirements such as anywhere banking, international business banking debit card, internet banking, phone banking and mobile banking. To open a Trade Roaming Current Account SMS TRCA to 676766, write to corporatecare@icicibank.com for contact nearest ICICI bank branch.

Recruitment - Union Bank of India

Union Bank of India has invited applications for following posts: 1. Deputy General Manager (Economist) Scale-VI Post-1 (General) 2. Assistant General Manager (Corporate Sales Forex) Scale-V Post-1 (General) 3. Manager (Coporate Communications) Scale-II Post-1 (OBC category) 4. Manager (Forex) Scale-II Post-20 (11 for SC, 9 for OBC) for details and application forms kindly visit www.unionbankofindia.com

Barclays Bank to begin operations

Barclays Bank would commence its retail and commercial banking business in the country from this year and expressed its commitment to bring in at least $100 million into this business in 2007. The bank is having licence for 3 branches in India of which one branch in Mumbai is already operational. The other two branches will be in Chennai and Bangalore.

Vijaya Bank hikes PLR by 25 bps

Vijaya Bank has increased its prime lending rate by 25 basis points (0.25%). The hike is effective from 01.01.2007.

Corporation Bank SME excellence award winners

Winners of Corporation Bank's National SME excellence awards >Kamath's Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt Ltd, Mumbai category: Food & Agro based processing >Pooja Garments, NOIDA category: Textiles & Apparels > G I Ato Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore category: Auto Components >Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore category: Drugs & Pharmaceuticals >Astral Polytechnik, Ahmedabad category: Other Small & Medium Enterprises >Epicurean Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., Chennai category: Regional SME Excellence Award

Federal Bank's - Federal Easy Gold

Federal Bank has introduced a gold loan product called Federal Easy Gold. which allows any purpose personal overdraft against the pledge of gold ornaments and coins. The customers are allowed a limit of Rs.5 lakh for a period of 36 months.

South Indian Bank - rate hike

South Indian Bank has hiked domestic fixed deposit interest rates. The fixed deposit for 150 days are eligible for 7.5% pa as compared to earlier rate of 6% pa. The interest rates for 300 days deposit will be 8% against the present rate of 6.5%.

YES Bank's 7-11 banking

YES Bank has launched a 7-11 banking service. It has introduced this service only in one branch in Mumbai. The branch would be open from 7 am to 11 pm for six days (Monday to Saturday) a week.

Karnataka Bank raises Deposit rates

The Karnataka Bank Ltd has announced increase in interest rate for domestic term deposit of 181 days to 364 days wef 1st January 2007. The new rates are 7% for deposits below Rs.15 lakh, 7.25% for deposit above 15 lakh and below Rs.50 lakh, 7.50% for deposit above Rs.50 lakh and below Rs.5 crore.

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank's "Time Double"

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has introduced a new deposit scheme called ' Time Double' in which double the amount invested will be paid back after a specific term. The amount will be doubled after 8 years and 3 days for the general public and 7 years 9 months and 14 days for senior citizens. The general public will get a rate of interest of 8.75% pa and senior citizens 9% pa. The deposit will be accepted with a minimum amont of Rs.1000 and in multiple of Rs.1000.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank - Rights Offer - Invest

Hindu Business Line (07-01-2007) Shareholders can consider subscribing to the Lakshmi Vilas Bank's rights offer, which is at a considerable discount to the prevailing market price. The offer is priced at Rs 50 per share against the current market price of Rs 82 and the post-rights book value is about Rs 83. The price, thus, appears attractive offering considerable scope for appreciation. LVB is a small-size old private sector bank with a strong presence in South India; 70 per cent of its branches are in Tamil Nadu. It has a deposit base of about Rs 4,850 crore and advances of about Rs 3,500 crore. The bank's performance, which lagged the industry between 2003 and 2005, now appears to be improving. For the first six months of FY-07, it grew its deposits 32 per cent, while credit growth was 49 per cent. Capital constraints during the corresponding previous period had resulted in a subdued performance. Reducing bad loans The bank has initiated several measures in the recent past to achieve volume-led growth, operational efficiency and improve risk management efforts. By streamlining operations at the branch level and sharpening focus on asset management, it has been able to reduce its bad loans significantly; the level of net non-performing assets (NPAs) has fallen from 4.6 per cent in September 2005 to 1.5 per cent now. A combination of faster recoveries, upgrades and securitisation, has worked to its advantage. Actual cash recoveries towards NPAs in FY-06 were Rs 142 crore — well above the targeted Rs 75 crore. If the bank manages to sustain the pace of recoveries and prevent creation of bad loans, it may over the next few quarters wipe out the Rs 53 crore in bad loans. Profitability picture High cost of funds and greater dependence on treasury gains have been principal factors affecting the bank's profitability in the past. The cost of funds has been largely on account of higher proportion of term deposits. Term deposits accounted for 74 per cent of LVB's total deposits over the last five years. That the proportion has remained around the same level is of concern as it is likely to push up funding costs further. LVB's focus on retail banking may, however, offer some comfort. This coupled with initiatives aimed at financial inclusion are expected to help it improve its share of low-cost deposits, which now stand at 23 per cent. Lower contribution from treasury operations and rising share of non-fund based income are likely to have a positive rub-off on the bank's earnings. Though the growth in fee income has been lower than that of some of its peers, it offers huge potential. Its recent tie-ups with insurance companies and mutual funds for distribution of financial products is expected to boost fee income and, thereby, improve profitability. Asset-liability structure LVB has all its liabilities under fixed rate, while about 41 per cent of its advances are contracted at floating interest rates. As interest rates are likely to show an upward bias in the near/medium-term, the asset-liability structure of the bank ensures protection on the downside. Though the bank's incremental cost of funds may be higher, corresponding higher yields on advances along with fixed outgo on existing liabilities are likely to protect its margins. As the bank has over 70 per cent of its investments in SLR under the held-to-maturity category, its bond book appears to be largely insulated against market risks. LVB is likely to be an attractive candidate in the ongoing consolidation in the banking industry. Its strong regional presence, wider reach in semi-urban and rural areas and a relatively clean balance-sheet that is likely to grow, may place a premium on its valuations, in the event of a takeover.

SBI offers higher rates for deposit of Rs.15 lakh to Rs.1 crore

State Bank of India will offer higher interest rates on deposits of certain size and maturity for the next three months. The bank has increased rate on domestic term deposits of Rs 15 lakh and above but less than Rs 1 crore having maturity of one year and above to 8.25 per cent, effective January 8. The revised offer will be only up to March 31. At present the rates for this mid-size deposits range from 7.75 per cent to 8.25 per cent across various maturities. The move is expected to help the bank to shore up its deposits in the current fiscal. A senior SBI official said the bank does not want to be aggressive in the bulk deposit segment, that are above Rs 1 crore, but is looking for "more stable and less demanding deposits". Similarly, in case of deposits below Rs 15 lakh the cost of mobilisation is higher, which is why the bank is offering higher interest rate for this particular segment of deposits, he said. Also, as the liquidity in the banking system is expected to ease post-April, the bank is offering the higher rate only up to March 31, the official added. In December, SBI had raised rates on term deposits of various maturities, starting from deposits of seven days, by 25-75 basis points. The bank had also raised its prime-lending rate by 50 basis points to 11.5 per cent last month. According to industry experts, this is a good move by SBI as a business proposition. Increasing the share of deposits below Rs 15 lakh would become unwieldy, due to large number of deposits.

New Rs.2 coin in circulation soon

The Reserve Bank will shortly put into circulation a new Rs. 2 coin with modified features under the theme 'unity in diversity'. The central portion of the new coin bears the 'Lion Capitol' of Ashoka Pillar along side the numeral '2' to indicate the denomination. The new coin is devoid of India's map, instead a stylised symbol portraying the country's diverse yet unified fabric is inscribed on the reverse portion.

Union Banks - Union Double Plus

Union Bank of India has entered into an agreement with LIC to offer 'Union Double Plus', a group insurance scheme for the bank's fixed deposit customers. All fixed deposit account holders, including the bank staff, in the age group of 18-55 would be eligible to join the Union Double Plus Scheme. The insurance cover is limited to the difference between the maturity value of the deposit and the accumulated amount in the account, including interest at any policy anniversary subject to a maximum of Rs.5 lakh, the bank said. The fixed deposit account holder will be charged the single premium for the entire term of the deposit (ranging grom 93 months to 105 months) at the time of entry into the scheme.

China's ICBC to buy Bank Halim

China's top lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has signed an agreement to buy a 90% stake in PT Bank Halim Indonesia, its first overseas acquition. ICBC raised US$19 billion in the world's largest IPO in October 06 and later lifted the amount to over US$21 billion by exercising an over allotment option.

Recruitment-Vijaya Bank

Vijaya Bank has declared vacancies of specialist officers: last date for application : 03.02.2007 kindly visit www.vijayabank.com for further details

Recruitment

Punjab National Bank HRD DIVISION, HEAD OFFICE 7, Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066 Last date for Receipt of Applications : 05.02.2007 Last date for Receipt of Applications from far-flung areas : 17.02.2007 Date of Written Examination : 29.04.2007 PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK INVITES APPLICATIONS FROM INDIAN CITIZENS FOR FOLLOWING POST: 1. Name of Post : CLERK 2. Total No. of Vacancies for all the Nine States together: 227 STATEWISE BREAK-UP GIVEN BELOW State SC ST OBC General Total Out of which OC HI VI EXSM Bihar 30 -- 21 09 60 01 01 -- 06 Chhattisgarh -- -- 01 08 09 -- -- -- 01 HP 09 -- 04 04 17 01 -- -- 02 J&K -- 05 03 -- 08 -- -- -- -- MP -- 04 03 14 21 -- -- 01 02 Orissa -- 01 01 03 05 -- -- -- -- Rajasthan 04 06 10 25 45 -- 01 -- 05 UP 11 05 14 17 47 -- -- 01 05 Uttaranchal -- 01 05 09 15 -- -- -- 01 Total 54 22 62 89 227 02 02 02 22 NOTE : Abbreviations stand for: SC - Scheduled Caste, ST - Scheduled Tribe, OBC - Other Backward Classes, GEN-General Category, OC: Orthopaedically Challenged, HI - Hearing Impaired, VI – Visually Impaired, EXSM – Ex-Servicemen. NOTE: (A) Candidates belonging to reserved categories for which no vacancy has been announced are free to apply against vacancies announced for Unreserved/General category. (B) Applications received for posts which are not advertised at all or post not advertised in a particular State will not be entertained. (C) The recruitment would be on State-wise basis. Candidates can apply for vacancies in one State only and have to appear for the examination from a center of that particular State. As the reservation for VI/HI/OC and Ex-Servicemen candidates is on horizontal basis, the selected candidates will be placed in the appropriate category to which the candidate belongs. 3. Scale of Pay : Rs. 4,410/- – 13,210/- 4.Minimum Qualification : Pass with 60% marks in 10+2 examination or its equivalent OR a degree in any discipline from a recognized University. For SC/ST/ Ex-Servicemen/PC Category candidates Pass with 50% marks in 10+2 examination or its equivalent OR a degree in any discipline from a recognized University. 5. Age (As on 01.01.2007) : Minimum 18 years Maximum 28 years 2. Relaxation in upper Age Limit:- (i) Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Candidates by 5 years. (ii) Other Backward Classes candidates by 3 years (iii) Physically Challenged candidates by 10 years (iv) Ex-Servicemen by 3 yrs in addition to the actual period of service rendered in Defence services subject to a maximum age of 50 years. (v) All persons who are ordinarily been domiciled in Kashmir Division of J & K State during 01.01.80 to 31.12.89 by 5 years. (vi) Widows, Divorced women & women judicially separated from their husbands & who are not remarried by 9 years subject to maximum age limit of 35 years for General and 40 years for SC/ST candidates. (vii) Regular employees of the Union Carbide Factory, Bhopal retrenched from service (applicable to Madhya Pradesh state only) by 05 years. 3. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:- NATIONALITY/ CITIZENSHIP: A candidate must be either i) a Citizen of India or ii) a subject of Nepal or iii) subject of Bhutan or iv) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or v) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan,Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India. Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) & (v) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India. A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination/interview conducted by the Bank but on final selection, the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility Certificate has been issued to him by the Government of India. Definition of Ex-Serviceman (EXSM) : (i) Only those candidates shall be treated as Ex-Servicemen who fulfill the revised definition as laid down in Govt. of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Dept. of Personnel & Administrative Reforms Notification No.36034/5/85/Estt (SCT) dated 27.10.1986 as amended from time to time. (ii) Disabled Ex-Servicemen (DISXS): Ex-Servicemen who while serving in Armed Forces of the Union were disabled in operation against the enemy or in disturbed areas shall be treated as DISXS. (iii) Dependents of Ex-Servicemen killed in action (DXS): Servicemen killed in the following operations would be deemed to have been killed in action attributable to military service (a) war (b) war like operations or Border Skirmishes either with Pakistan on cease fire line or any other country, (c) fighting against armed hostiles in a counter insurgency environment, viz. Nagaland, Mizoram, etc. (d) serving with peace keeping mission abroad, (e) laying or clearance of mines including enemy mines as also mine sweeping operation between one month before and three months after conclusion of an operation, (f) frost bite during actual operations or during the period specified by the Government, (g) dealing with agitating para military forces personnel, (h) IPKF Personnel killed during the operations in Sri Lanka. Note: (1) Candidates still serving in Defence Services and desirous of applying under Ex-Servicemen category should submit a certificate from the competent authority that they would be released/retired on or before 01.08.2007 and (2) Ex-servicemen candidates who have already secured employment under the Central Govt. in Group ‘C’ & ‘D’ will be permitted the benefit of age relaxation as prescribed for Ex-Servicemen for securing another employment in a higher grade or cadre in Group ‘C’/’D’ under the Central Govt. However,such candidates will not be eligible for the benefit of reservation for Ex-Servicemen in Central Govt. jobs. D. Reservation for Physically Challenged Persons (PC) : Definition of Categories of disabilities is given hereunder:- 1. An Orthopaedically Challenged person is one suffering from Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy. Persons would be eligible for reservation in services/ posts who suffer from not less than 40% of relevant disability and is certified by a Medical Board appointed by the Centre/ State Govt. Locomotor Disability :- “Locomotor Disability” means disability of the bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restriction of the movement of the limbs or any form of cerebral palsy. Cerebral Palsy:- “Cerebral Palsy” means a group of non-progressive conditions of a person characterized by abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occurring in the pre-natal, peri- natal or infant period of development. 2. Deaf & Hearing Impaired (HI): The Deaf are those persons in whom the sense of hearing is non-functional for ordinary purposes of life, i.e. total loss of hearing in both ears. They do not hear; understand sounds at all even with amplified speech. Hearing impairment means loss of sixty decibels or more in the better ear in the conversational range of frequencies. 3. Visually Impaired : The Visually Impaired persons are those with following disability : Blindness or low vision – “Blindness” refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions: (i) Total absence of sight (ii) Visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses, (iii) Limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of 20 degree or worse. “Person with low vision” means a person with impairment of visual functioning even after treatment or standard refractive correction but who uses or is potentially capable of using vision for the planning or execution of a task with appropriate assistive device. The visually impaired candidates and candidates whose writing speed is affected by cerebral palsy can use their own scribe at their cost during the written examination. In all such cases where a scribe is used, the following rules will apply : i) The candidate will have to arrange his/her own scribe at his/her own cost. ii) The academic qualification of the scribe should be one grade lower than the stipulated eligibility criteria iii) The scribe should be from any academic discipline. The scribe should possess 60% or lesser marks. iv) Both the candidate as well as the scribe will have to give a suitable undertaking, confirming that the scribe fulfils all the stipulated eligibility criteria for a scribe as mentioned above. Further, in case it later transpires that he/she did not fulfill any of the laid down eligibility criteria or suppressed material facts, the candidature of the applicant will stand cancelled, irrespective of the result of the written examination. v) Such candidates who use a scribe shall be eligible for extra time of 20 minutes for every hour of the examination. 4. SELECTION PROCEDURE (a) All eligible candidates should apply in the prescribed Application format given at the end of this advertisement to reach on or before the last date for receipt of applications. Applications received after the last date will not be considered. (b) Selection will be made on the basis of performance in the Written Test and Interview. Merely satisfying the eligibility norms does not entitle a candidate to be called for Test or Interview. (c) The Written Test will be Objective and Descriptive type. The questions in objective tests and Descriptive Paper will be printed in bilingual, i.e. English and Hindi except for the Test of English. The candidates will have the option to answer the Descriptive paper either in English or Hindi or Official Language of the State. There will be negative marks for the wrong answers in the Objective Tests. The Written Test for the candidates will be held on Sunday, the 29th April, 2007 at the following centers : Sr. No. Name of Centre State Name Centre Code No Name of Centre 1 01 Bihar 11 Patna 2 02 Chhattisgarh 12 Raipur 3 03 HP 13 Shimla 4 04 J&K 14 Jammu 5 05 MP 15 Bhopal 6 06 Orissa 16 Bhubaneswar 7 07 Rajasthan 17 Jaipur 8 08 UP 18 Lucknow 9 09 Uttaranchal 19 Dehradun - Bank, however, reserves the right to cancel any of the above mentioned Centres and/ or add some other Centres, depending upon the response of the candidates, administrative feasibility, etc. The Bank also reserves the right to allot the candidate to any of the Centres other than the one he/she has opted for - The Candidates will appear for the written examination at the allotted Centre from the State for which he/she has applied at their own expenses and risks and the Bank will not be responsible for any injury or losses etc. of any nature. (e) Pre-Examination Training It is proposed to impart free Pre-Examination Training to a limited number of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Minority Communities /Ex-servicemen candidates on “First come first serve basis”. An eligible candidate who wishes to avail Pre-Examination Training should fill in the relevant column in the Application format. All expenses regarding traveling, boarding, lodging etc. will be borne by the candidate for attending the Pre-Examination Training programme at the concerned Pre- Examination Training Centre. 5. Application Fee and Postage Charges (Non-refundable) : (i) Candidate belonging to SC/ST/PC/ Ex-servicemen Categories, there is no application fees excepting postage charges of Rs.50/-. (ii) For all others categories, including OBC/Dependents of servicemen killed in action, the application fee is Rs. 100/- + postage charges Rs.50/- = Total Rs. 150/-. (iii) Application fee including postage should be paid by a single Demand Draft/ Bank Pay order issued by a Scheduled Commercial Bank to be drawn on “PNB RECRUITMENT A/C – CLERICAL PROJECT” payable at Mumbai (SC/ST/PC/EXSM candidates -Rs.50/- and for General Category /OBC category candidates - Rs.150/- only). (iv) Candidates must write his/her name and address on the reverse side of the Bank Draft/ Bank Pay order. Candidates may please note that payment of application fee by Cash /Cheques/Money Order/ Postal stamps etc. will not be accepted. 6. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS a) The Bank takes no responsibility for any delay in receipt or loss in postal transit of any application or communication. b) All candidates must submit self attested photocopies of the prescribed certificates in support of their educational qualification, experience, date of birth, caste/community certificate/certificate of Disability issued by the competent authority, as specified in Para 7. Candidates shall produce original caste/ relevant certificates at the time of interview,failing which his/her candidature will be cancelled. The applications are to be sent strictly as per the prescribed format given at the end of this advertisement and is properly and completely filled alongwith the application fee/postage. c) Before applying for the post of Clerk, the candidate should ensure that he/she fulfils the eligibility and other norms mentioned in this advertisement. The Bank would be free to reject any application, at any stage of the Recruitment Process, if the candidate is found ineligible for the post for which he/she has applied. The decision of the Bank regarding eligibility of the candidates, the stage at which scrutiny of eligibility is to be undertaken,qualifications and other eligibility norms, the documents to be produced for the purpose of conduct of interview/selection etc. and any other matter relating to recruitment will be final and binding on the candidate. No correspondence or personal enquiries shall be entertained by the Bank in this behalf. . If any of these shortcomings is/are detected even after appointment, his/her services are liable to be terminated d) An application not accompanied by Application Fee, relevant certificates as mentioned above or not in the prescribed Application format or not signed by the candidate or incomplete in any respect will not be entertained. e) Applications once made will not be allowed to be withdrawn and the application fee,postage once paid shall not be refunded nor shall it be held in reserve for any other examination. f) A recent, recognizable colour passport size photograph should be firmly pasted on the application and should be signed across by the candidate. Three copies of the same photograph should be retained for use at the time of written examination and interview. Candidates are advised not to change their appearance till the recruitment process is complete. Failure to produce the same photograph at the time of the written test/interview may lead to disqualification. g) Candidates who are in employment will be required to produce a "No Objection Certificate" from their employer at the time of interview, in the absence of which their candidature may not be considered. Advance copy of the application alongwith original Demand Draft may be sent to the addressee within the stipulated time. h) Any resulting dispute arising out of this advertisement shall be subject to the sole jurisdiction of the Courts situated at NCT of Delhi. i) No Traveling Allowance is payable to candidates who are called for the written test. However, only successful SC/ST/PC Candidates in the Written Test who are called for interview will be paid actual 2ND Class to and fro Rail/Bus fare by the shortest route on production of evidence of travel, i.e Railway Receipt/Ticket(s) for attending the interview. j) No candidate is permitted to use Calculators, Mobile Phones, Pagers or any other instruments in the Examination Hall. k) Canvassing in any form will be a disqualification. l) The above openings are only in rural and remote areas of State of Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, UP, and Uttaranchal. Candidates willing to work at remote/ rural areas of above States till their promotions to Officer cadre, need alone apply. m) As the applications are to be processed by a computerized system, it is essential that the application is strictly in accordance with the prescribed format and properly and completely filled and contains no correction/alternation/over writings. n) A candidate must fill the application form in CAPITAL LETTERS IN HIS/ HER OWN HANDWRITING IN ENGLISH ONLY. o) Any request for change of address will not be entertained. p) The Bank takes no responsibility to connect any Certificate/Remittance sent separately. q) In case any dispute arises on account of interpretation of version other than English,English version will prevail. 7. THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY FOR THE ISSUE OF THE CERTIFICATE TO SC/ST/OBC/PC IS AS UNDER : (a) For SC/ST/OBC : District Magistrate/Additional Dist. Magistrate/Collector/ Deputy Commissioner/Additional Dy. Commissioner/Dy. Collector/ First Class Stipendary Magistrate/Sub-Division Magistrate/Taluka Magistrate/ Executive Magistrate/Extra Assistant Commissioner/Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Presidency Magistrate/Revenue Officer not below the rank of Tahsildar/Sub-Divisional Officer of the area where the candidate and/or his/her family normally resides. (b) For Physically Challenged : Authorized Certifying Authority will be a Medical Board duly constituted by the Central/State Govt. having at least 3 members consisting of Chief Medical Officer, Sub-Divisional Medical Officer in the District and an Orthopedic Surgeon, Ophthalmology Surgeon, ENT Surgeon as the case may be. 8. HOW TO APPLY:- APPLICATIONS COMPLETE IN ALL RESPECTS SHOULD BE SENT ONLY BY ORDINARY POST TO PNB CLERICAL RECRUITMENT PROJECT- 2007, POST BOX No.7458, JOGESHWARI (E), MUMBAI 400 060 9. LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS THE APPLICATIONS SHOULD REACH THE ABOVE ADDRESS I.E. POST BOX NO.7458, JOGESHWARI (E), MUMBAI 400 060 ON OR BEFORE 05.02.2007. For the candidates staying abroad and for those posting applications from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Ladakh Division of J & K State, Lahaul and Spiti district and Pangi Sub Division of Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, the last date for receipt of applications will be 17.02.2007. An application received after the last date will not be entertained by the Bank. The Bank will not be responsible for loss of application in transit or for rejection of application because of non-receipt of application on or before the stipulated last date. 10. CALL LETTERS FOR THE WRITTEN EXAMINATION The date of the Written Examination for Clerical post has been tentatively fixed for 29.04.2007 (Sunday). However, the date of Examination shall be intimated in the Call Letter alongwith the Centre/Venue address. All eligible candidates will be issued Call letters at the correspondence address given by the candidate in their application form, which will be sent by post. An eligible candidate who does not receive the Call letter by 21.04.2007 should contact the Punjab National Bank at the following address indicating his/her name, address, details of Demand Draft etc. for issuance of duplicate Call letter. Duplicate call letters will be issued at the following addresses between 25.04.2007 and 28.04.2007. S.No Address with Telephone/Fax No. 1. Zonal Office: R Block Chankya Place, Patna – 800001 Tel.No. 0612 – 2221813, 2223512 Fax No. 0612 - 2235157 2. Zonal Office: Madina Manzil, Medical College Rd, Kachahari Chowk, Raipur – 492001 (Chattisgarh) Tel.No. 0771- 2229389, 2228231 Fax No. 0771 – 2224559 3. Zonal Office: Regent House, The Mall, Shimla – 171001 Tel.No. 0177- 2657548, 2657545 Fax No 0177 – 2658331, 2653585 4. Zonal Office: High Land Tower, Rail Head Complex, Jammu – 180012 Tel.No. 0191- 2471585, 2470333, 2471716 Fax No. 0191- 2475271 5. Zonal Office: PNB Building, Arera Hills, Bhopal – 462011 Tel.No. 0755 - 2762574 Fax No. 0755 - 2558028 6. Zonal Office: Plot No. 116, 1st Floor, Station Square, Bhubaneswar – 751001 Tel.No. 0674 - 2533541 Fax No. 0674 - 2534506 7. Zonal Office : PNB House, 2 Nehru Place, Tonk Road, Jaipur – 302015 Tel.No. 0141- 2743123, 2743042 Fax No. 0141- 2743123 8. Zonal Office: Nav Chetna Kender, 10 Ashok Marg, Lucknow – 226001 Tel.No. 0522- 2286833, 2286835 Fax No. 0522- 2286831, 2286834 9. Zonal Office : PNB House, Paltan Bazar, Clock Tower, Dehradun – 248001 Tel.No. 0135- 2716133, 0135- 2710250 Fax No. 0135- 2716110 The above advertisement can also be viewed and Application Format downloaded from the Bank’s Website:-www.pnbindia.com ASSTT. GENERAL MANAGER (HRD) PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

News

ICICI Bank opens 3 rep offices abroad ICICI bank on tuesday (5th December 2006) opened its representative offices in Thailand ( Bangkok), Indonesia ( Jakarta ) and Malaysia ( Kuala Lumpur), extending its reach to 17 countries. Lakshmi Vilas bank in pact with Western Union Money transfer The Karur based Lakshmi Vilas Bank has tied up with Western Union Financial Services for offering global money transfer facility to its customers. The services would initially be extended to 150 branches located in rural and Semi-urban areas. No Real-time fund transfer for small deals The banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India has instructed banks that they should not use the instant funds transfer system, known as the Real TIme Gross Settlement (RTGS), for an amount below Rs.1 lakh. The new rule would come into effect from January 1,2007. For small transactions, RBI has asked banks to offer National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) which provided T+0 and T+1 settlement system (depending on the time a customer gives instruction to the bank for tranferring the fund). The key difference between RTGS and NEFT is that while RTGS in on gross settlement basis, NEFT is on net settlement basis. Besides, RTGS facilitates online transfer, while NEFT involves four settlement cycles a day 9.30 am, 10.30 am, 12 pm and 4 pm. Thus if a customer has given instruction to its bank to transfer money through NEFT to another bank in the morning hours, money would be transferrd the same day, but if the instruction is given later during the day, money would be transferred next day. However, RTGS facility is available in over 25000 branches, while NEFT is availabel in 9800 branches. Besides, while all commercial banks have put in place the RTGS facility, only 43 banks have purchased the software required to facilitate NEFT based transaction. RBI has instructed banks that all branches which are RTGS enabled should also provide NEFT by December 2006. Sources said that RBI also had planned to discountinue EFT-Electronic funds Transfer. This is because EFT is availabel only in 15 locations where RBI has its clearing house. As of now, customers can access the RTGS facility only upto 3 pm and inter-bank transactions are possible upto 5 pm.

Bank Stock News

Bank of India to pay 20% interim Bank of India has declared a 20% interim dividend payable on December 20.

Recruitment

Corporation Bank --- Recruitment of specialist officer Assistant General Manager (information Security)---SMG-V---Vacancy---1 Computer officer (Hardware)---MMG--III---Vacancy---4 Computer Officer (Software)---MMG---III---Vacancy---2 Computer Officer (database administrator)---MMG--III---Vacancy---3 Computer Officer (Communication)---MMG---III---Vacancy---3 Security Officer---JMG---I--Vacancy---5 Official Language Officer---JMG---I---Vacancy---5 Law Officer---JMG---I---Vacancy----10 Last date for receipt of application 22.12.2006 Date of written exam ; 18.02.2007 For more information visit www.corpbank.in

News

Banks can open lockers on rent deault According to the draft RBI circular, the locker holder of banks which are categoriesed as "medium risk" and "high risk" according to "know your customer" norms have to open their lockers at least once in three years and one year respectively. If they do not do so they will be given an option to operate or surrender them. If they still do not operate the locker the banks should consider opening the lockers with the help of police after giving due notice to the locker hirer. Other than above banks have the right to break open the lockers of those hirers who do not pay annual rent after giving them due notice. In case of the death of a locker hirer, access to the nominee or the joint hirer can now be given by submission of a death certificate and indentification papers. If there is an 'either or survior' clause and the locker is not to be operated jointly, access may be given only to the survivor in case of the death of one of the hirers. In case of the death of a locker hirer, where there is no nomination but a valid will, access may now be given to the executor. In other cases, access will be given to the legal representative of the deceased. While permitting the removal of the contents of any lockers, by a nominee or a legal heir, banks have been asked to create an inventory of the contents, which is to be signed by the new hirer. Banks cannot, however, open sealed packets left with them for safe custody or found in the locker. The central bank, has told banks that lockers, which do not have nomination clause should obtain the option within a year. PNB's new remittance service Punjab National Bank has launched a new remittance service with Buyindiaonline.com Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xoom Corporation, USA. Under this service, non-resident Indians can send their remittances to India through the website www.xoom.com. A beneficiary can pick up pay order in his favour from any of the over 2000 core banking solutions branches of the bank in India.

News

Catholic Syrian Bank to offer mediclaim policy The bank has tied up with New India Assurance Company to issue mediclaim policy " CSB Health Care Support " to its customers. Syndicate Bank's CBS The bank has implemented the Core Banking Solution (CBS) in the 1001 branches with Flexcube from i-flex Solutions Ltd.

Bank Stock News

L&T picks up 9.99% in City Union Bank L&T got preferential allotment of 26.65 lakh shares at a price of Rs.169 a share costing it Rs.45 crore.

Class Room

Security Alert--------Lebanese Loop “Lebanese Loop” attacks have become common occurrence especially in the western countries. The modus operandi in Lebanese Loop is comparatively simple, using a combination of technical and social engineering / inter personal skills. The technological part of the Lebanese Loop involves inserting clear plastic sleeves into the card slot of the ATM in advance. When an unsuspecting customer inserts his card for operation, the ATM try to read card’s magnetic strip but the exercise would be in vain as the card will be slotted into the sleeve inserted by fraudster. The situation will prompt the system to display messages like “ System Temporarily out of order “ or “Enter PIN number” etc. Whatever the customer does, may not yield the desired result as the system will not be able to read any instructions keyed in as the card will be within the sleeve inserted by the fraudster. It is at this point in time, that one of the individuals involved in the fraudulent racket will turn up and offer to help. The person offering to help may emerge posing as another customer pretending to be also aggravated over the malfunctioning of the ATM or as someone simply offering to help the customer to wriggle out of the woes he is in, quoting their own similar experience. In either case, the objective, basically, of the person offering to help is to get to know the ATM PIN number of the customer. Needless to mention, any means of support by the stranger may not help in enabling the customer to operate the ATM for obvious reasons. On the other hand, the damage is already done as the PIN number would have, in all probability, been compromised with. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-enter the PIN or at retrieving the card, the user will come into terms with the fact that he cannot retrieve the card anymore from the ATM. He may then opt to intimate the bank instead, for retrieving his card from the ATM. Once the unsuspecting customer leaves, the fraudster will remove the sleeve from the ATM and retrieve the card therein. Thereafter the fraudster is entitled to a free run having both the customer’s card and PIN number at his disposal, which enables him to transact from the customer’s account at will. This modus operandi can be used for trapping all types of cards that are used in ATMs viz. the ATM/Debit/Credit card etc. It is important for each of the customers to remember that if they encounter a scenario as mentioned above, the card slot of the ATM may be carefully examined by running the fingers across it to find one or more of the imperceptible “ prongs “ attached to the plastic sleeve that are designed to enable the fraudster to remove it. It is important to understand that if the card is not possible to be retrieved for any reason, it is not always right to assume that the ATM swallowed it. Instead it is prudent to enquire with the concerned branch/any authorized officials of the bank whether any problem exists with the ATMs and communicate about the card being held back by the system. Most of the banks providing ATM services display in the ATM cabin, the contact numbers, in case of emergency. Timely information will facilitate the bank personnel to look into the issue and ensure that a potential Lebanese Loop attempt is not rendered successful. The branch officials shall therefore exercise prudence/presence of mind whenever such instances are reported. The modus operandi invariably necessitates a scenario wherein the fraudster has to first go to an ATM to rig the card slot and fix the sleeve. Needless to mention the fraudster/his accomplices also have to be present in the vicinity of the ATM/ATM cabin to lend the helping hand to a customer who has been victimized. The most important aspect to be borne in mind is that such of these activities relating to Lebanese Loop to happen without any hindrance, the ideal situation has to be an unmanned ATM location. An unmanned ATM location provides the fraudsters the opportunity to spend ample time at the ATM/in the ATM cabin as is required as a pre-cursor to such fraudulent attempts. The Best preventive measure in the case of manned ATMs is that the security guards posted at the ATM sites do have a close watch on the people entering the ATM cabin, fixing any gadgets in the ATM or in the ATM cabin and those who spend unduly long time inside/around the cabin. Lebanese Loop attempts can be definitely thwarted by the security guards and the timely intervention of the branch officials to a considerable extent. The security guards at the ATM sites and the branch officials should be primarily aware and be vigilant on such issues. The need of the hour, therefore, Is to proactively anticipate and foresee motives in any of the activities being attempted in or around the ATM cabin which is not in line with the normal/prescribed set of actions and activities.

Bank Stock News

UBS picks up stake in UTI Bank UBS Securities Asia Ltd has picked up nearly 2.5 per cent stake of UTI Bankfor Rs 344.58 crore in open market transaction. UBS Securities has acquired69.33 lakh equity shares at Rs 497 each, representing 2.47 per cent stake ofthe private bank in a block deal on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

News

Corpn Bank ties up with India Post In tune with intensifying its efforts to serve the rural community moreeffectively, Corporation Bank has initiated a process to sell its loanproducts in villages with the help of India Post. Corporation Bank, inassociation with India Post, has launched 'Corp Gram Mitra Yojana' asecurity-free consumption loan scheme for rural beneficiaries. To beginwith, the scheme has been introduced on a pilot basis in Goa. This tie-upbrings benefits to all stakeholders post office by way of fee income,borrowers by way of credit on easy terms, and the bank by way of newbusiness. The maximum amount of loan will be Rs 20,000, repayable along withinterest within two years in the form of monthly instalments. Applicationand documentation of loans will be done through the designated post officesin the respective places. Ms Noorjehan, Principal Chief Postmaster General,Maharashtra Circle, formally launched 'Corp Gram Mitra Yojana', at Nagoa inGoa. Mr K.L. Gopalakrishna, Executive Director of the bank, presided. Bank of Rajasthan plans insurance foray Private sector Bank of Rajasthan plans to get into life and generalinsurance businesses, after shoring up its net worth to Rs 1,000 crore in 18months, Director Mr Pravin Kumar Tayal said. The bank, he said, would set upseparate subsidiaries for the new ventures, joining many other banks vyingfor the country's fast growing but underserved life insurance market. Bankof Rajasthan now has a net worth of Rs 450 crore. BoJ rate hike 'any time now' The Bank of Japan Governor, Mr Toshihiko Fukui, reiterated that an interestrate hike could come at any time amid a strong economic recovery. The Bankof Japan's Policy Board voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.25 percent on November 16. The market is braced for a rate hike next month or inearly 2007. New norms to boost foreign bank lending Barclays Bank's total lending in India is just over Rs 4 crore, but itsoff-balance sheet liabilities are over Rs 2,50,000 crore. If the RBI goesahead and implements its revised priority sector lending guidelines fromApril 1, 2007, then the British bank will have to lend over Rs 1,200 croreto priority sectors. That's because the draft guidelines propose to useeither the net bank credit or credit equivalent of off-balance sheetexposure as the base for calculating bank's priority sector lendingobligations. The average credit equivalent of OBS for the entire bankingsystem about 1.9 per cent of the total contingent liabilities. The number ofbanks which are actively involved in these activities in India are only 15,most of which are foreign banks. The combined share of these 15 banks intotal off-balance sheet exposures steadily increased from 73.8 per cent inMarch 2002 to 82.3 per cent in March 2006. The growth in OBS exposures inIndia has been fuelled by the phenomenal increase in derivatives segment.

News

66 Union Bank ATMs at rly stations Union Bank of India has tied up with Indian Railways to provide a host ofservices to the commuters, including Internet ticketing. The bank has signeda memorandum of understanding with Indian Railways for opening of 66 ATMs atvarious railway stations throughout the country. It would also set up aseparate kiosk to provide Internet ticketing service to passengers. Also,the ATMs would provide cash withdrawals, balance enquiries, fund transfer inown account and also prepaid mobile top ups, the bank said in a releasehere. The bank has a network of 611 ATMs and aims to install 1,000 ATMsthroughout the country by March 2007. YES Bank plans to raise $90 m YES Bank Ltd, a two-year-old Indian bank partly owned by Rabobank Group ofthe Netherlands, plans to raise $90 million selling shares and bonds byMarch to fund expansion, said the Chief Executive, Mr Rana Kapoor. TheMumbai-based bank plans to have 60 branches by June, Mr Kapoor toldpresspersons in New Delhi on Sunday. YES Bank said it planned to raise atotal of $150 million for expansion. YES Bank is also raising Rs 180 crore($40 million) selling debt maturing in nine years and six months payinginvestors a coupon of 9.1 per cent, Mr Kapoor said American Dream for SBI, ICICI Bank State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, India's two largest banks, will spreadtheir operations in the US. According to senior government officials,following the government's talks with the US authorities, India's twoleading lenders may well be granted approval for fresh branch licences inthe next six months. Part of the problem can be traced to the fact that SBIwas fined $7.5 million in 2001 by the US regulators for what was seen as thebank's failure to put in place anti-money laundering safeguards. The banksubsequently agreed to pay the fine imposed both by the US treasury and theNew York State Banking Department. SBI has operations in New York, Chicago,Los Angels and Washington, while ICICI is seeking an entry into the US aftermaking some inroads into the UK and Canadian markets. The government and RBIhave said that they have been liberal in approving branch licensingproposals from foreign banks way above the annual cap of 12. Bajaj Allianz, Centurion Bank headed for a long legal battle The dissolution of the erstwhile partnership between Bajaj Allianz LifeInsurance and Centurion Bank of Punjab is embroiled in a major feud and thetwo parties may end up in arbitration. A couple of months after the mergerof Bank of Punjab and Centurion Bank in June last year, the merged CenturionBank of Punjab (CBoP) had called for fresh bids from insurers since eachbank had different partners. Existing regulations do not allow a bank tosell policies of more than one life insurers. The bank had indicated it hadchosen Aviva because the geographies in which the firm was present matchedbank's requirement. It had also said it would continue to service customersto whom it had sold Bajaj Allianz policies, and would not try to convertthem into becoming Aviva's policy holders. Another reason for the change wasthat Bajaj Allianz was pursuing a strategy of growing its agency force andCBoP saw this as an area of potential conflict. However, the decision to gowith Aviva didn't go well with Bajaj Allianz.

Bank Stock News

Vijaya Bank -------- Buy Healthy business growth, improving asset quality, a relatively de-risked bond book, and undemanding valuation lend credibility to the Vijaya Bank stock. Investors can consider fresh exposure to the stock at theits current price of Rs 53 with one/two-year perspective. Insipid performance of the bank until last year is one of the reasons for the poor valuation of athe stock. While net interest income has remained under pressure, bad loans piled up. However, things are gradually changing now. Through a sharper focus on recoveries and stricter credit monitoring, Vijaya Bank has been able to bring down the level of net non-performing assets (NPAs) to 0.6 per cent in September 2006 against 1 per cent a year ago. Further, the bad loan coverage ratio has also improved from 68.1 per cent a year ago to 78.5 per cent now. This, coupled with excess floating provisions of Rs 30 crore (or 30 per cent of the net NPAs), is likely to provide cushion to the bank in case of loan delinquencies. This is also likely to keep provisioning charges lower over the next few quarters. Business outlook For the September quarter, the bank recorded a healthy 24 per cent growth in business volumes. Its business reached Rs 50,000 crore six months ahead of the target date, and the bank has set a goal of Rs 60,000 crore to be achieved by FY-07. While its loan book has grown by about 25 per cent, pressure on margins still persists. The bank's cost of funds rose by about 30 basis points in the September quarter, affecting its net interest margins (NIMs). Though yields on advances have improved, rising deposit costs along with a marginal fall in low-cost deposit base have resulted in NIMs declining by about 22 basis points. At 3.12 per cent, NIMs are still healthy and on a par with industry average. Containing costs is likely to be a key element in determining earnings growth and, thus, holds greater significance. For Vijaya Bank, various technology-based initiatives are likely to help bring down the operating cost. The bank also has the leeway to re-deploy its excess investments in SLR in its loan book; this is expected to improve its margins over the medium term. With the bank's credit at 61 per cent of deposits, there is still headroom to increase its loan book. If this happens, margins and profitability are likely to improve. Investment portfolio The bank's investment portfolio appears largely insulated from interest rate risk. This is because over 70 per cent of its holdings in government securities are under the held-to-maturity (HTM) category. The continuing decline in bond yields this quarter is likely to have a positive effect on its bond book in the coming quarter or two. At its current price, the stock quotes at a price-to-book multiple of 1.3 times against 1.5-1.6 times for most other public sector banks. The return on shareholder funds has improved sharply to 20 per cent. The bank is likely to generate and sustain return on shareholders' funds in the 15-18 per cent range over the next year or two. This appears healthy and is enough to support the valuation of the stock and provide a cushion on the downside.

Bank Stock News

FIIs' investment in Yes Bank FIIs, NRIs and persons of Indian origin can now purchase equity shares andconvertible debentures of Yes Bank under the portfolio investment scheme upto 49 per cent of its paid-up capital, according to an RBI circular

News

PNB credit cards foray by March Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to come up with its own credit card byMarch next year. It would soon invite ex-pression of interest (EOI) for ajoint venture partner in the proposed credit card venture. Currently, PNBhas a co-branding tie-up with HSBC in which latter is the card issuer andplays the dominant role. Indications are that PNB would withdraw from thistie-up as soon as the joint venture company takes off. "We have alreadyroped in Ernst & Young, who will help us identify joint venture partner",said Mr K. Raghuraman, Executive Director, PNB. Oriental Bank ties up with IL&FS Investsmart for online trading Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) would soon offer online share tradingfacility to its demat account holders. For this purpose, the bank has signeda memorandum of understanding with IL&FS Investsmart on Wednesday.Initially, the online share trading facility would be available on a pilotbasis at Mumbai. Currently, OBC has more than 1 lakh demat accounts spreadover 111 branches. The MoU, also provides for the bank's customers toundertake share trading at designated branches. "Our customers walking intodesignated branches could trade shares and IL&FS Investsmart personnel atthese branches would provide support for share trading," an OBC officialsaid. ICICI Bank pact with Canadian agency ICICI Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with Export DevelopmentCanada (EDC), a Canadian export credit agency, for financing support toIndian buyers of capital goods and professional services from Canada. "ICICIBank will leverage its international presence to provide holistic support toIndian corporates in their global aspirations," said Ms. Chanda Kochhar,Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Bank. The bank has a subsidiary in Canada(ICICI Bank Canada) with five branches. 4 insurers wooing Union Bank Union Bank of India is being chased by four new life insurance companies tomake the Mumbai-based bank a shareholder in their ventures. Italy's largestinsurer Generali, Japan's Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance, which has tied upwith Bank of India, Germany's second largest primary insurer The ErgoInsurance Group, and interestingly, Bharti Axa life insurance company, whichcommenced operations in August, have already made presentations to UnionBank. Experts say that roping in a bank makes more sense for Bharti Axa asit will help get a committed partner with a wide reach for selling theproducts. Union Bank officials confirmed that they have been approached bythese insurers and said the public sector bank was interested in having23-26 per cent equity stake in a life insurance company. IDBI, BoR ink deal on e-trading services IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd inked an agreement with the Bank ofRajasthan to offer advanced e-trading services throughwww.IDBIpaisabuilder.in to the customers of the bank. United Bank to move govt with capital rejig plan again United Bank of India (UBI) will once again ask the Centre to consider itscapital restructuring proposal. Earlier, the government had rejected theproposal and had asked the Kolkata-based bank to submit a fresh formula. Thebank, however, has decided against any modification and will place the sameplan yet again. The UBI board has approved the move on November 21. Themanagement felt that this was in the best interest of the bank, sourcessaid. However, UBI chairman and managing director PK Gupta refused tocomment. The government had rejected UBI's original proposal, following anote from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is reportedly againstallowing more than 40% of bank's Tier-1 capital into preference shares. ButUBI's plan to restructure Rs 1,200 crore of equity capital intonon-convertible preference shares from the Tier-1 capital of Rs 1,600 croredoes not conform with RBI's thinking. It had proposed two other variationsof the restructuring plan. In both the cases, the conversion was in excessof 40% of the Tier 1 capital.

News

'Reserve train tickets at ATMs' The Railways would soon enable buying of reserved train tickets from ATMs, which are being set up at railway stations. The ATMs would have Internet access facility, using which passengers can book e-tickets. After entering into an agreement with the State Bank of India to set up 682 ATMs at railway stations, Indian Railways entered into an agreement with six nationalised banks to set up another 711 ATMs at railway stations for passengers to withdraw cash. Out of the 711 ATMs, 473 will have e-ticketing facilities. The banks include Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank and Punjab National Bank. Currently, 86 ATMs have been installed at various stations and by the end of 2006-07, 250 ATMs are expected to be operational. The Railways aims to set up 4,000 ATMs at various stations. PNB offers online share trading Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched online share trading services for its customers. It has tied-up with IDBI Capital Market Services to enable the bank's customers to accesswww.IDBIpaisabuilder.in, a Web-based portal, for investing in equity, mutual funds and initial public offerings. This alliance with IDBI Capital Market Services would help the bank to offer online trading in shares and, thereby, enlarge the number of demat accounts. With this tie-up, a PNB customer can get an integrated 3-in-1 online account that includes bank, investment and demat accounts. One can even link existing savings and demat accounts. PNB is now serving about 3.8 crore customers through its 4,500 branches. At present, the bank has about 35,000 demat accounts spread across 165 branches in 55 cities. It expects to add another 25,000 demat accounts by Mar'07. Bank of India's e-share trading Bank of India is launching online share trading jointly with broking firm Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd. The broking firm would provide the online trading facility while the bank would offer banking facilities like demat and savings bank accounts. SBI too joins e-trading brigade, strikes pact The country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), is slated to enter into a strategic alliance with the Mumbai-based brokerage Motilal Oswal Securities to provide integrated e-trading platform to their customers. This will possibly be the first entry by a large PSU bank in the online trading arena. At present such services are provided by broking firms in partnership with private banks. Players like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank offer seamless trading with their subsidiaries ICICIdirect.com and HDFC Securities, respectively. This will broaden the scope of trading since the less-savvy IT customers, who have always been banking with a PSU bank, will now have an access to online trading facilities with the tie-up.

Class Room

IIBF to launch diploma in banking & finance Indian Institute for Banking and Finance (IIBF), a premier training body promoted by public sector banks, is all set to launch a three-paper online diploma course in banking and finance. The institute is expected to offer it in the next academic session starting May-June 2007. "Even as there are a number of courses offered in banking for mid-career or junior executives, this will help in preparing a fresher with principles and practices of banking before they join a bank, said R Bhaskaran, CEO, IIBF. The institute will be soon introducing certificate courses in asset liability management, retail banking and risk management for working bank executives.

News

PNB add-on debit card Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday announced that all the core banking solution (CBS) branch customers with PNB debit card could now have two add-on-debit cards for his/her family members, who may be spouse and dependent children not below 18 years. The bank said that the add-on-card holders are also covered under the accident death insurance of Rs 1 lakh. The debit card is issued free-of-cost to the primary cardholders as well as to the add-on-card holders. Insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh is also> available free-of-cost. No curbs on Sangli Bank Sangli Bank has clarified that the RBI has not imposed any restriction on it, including expansion of its advances. Responding to a report published in Business Standard on November 16 (RBI clamps down on Sangli Bank), the clarification points out that the RBI has not stopped the bank management from going in for large deposits and from increasing its lending exposure. Nor has any restriction been imposed on it to open new branches. PSBs to ink MoU with Rlys for ATMs Six nationalized banks, including Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank, will sign a MoU with Indian Railways on Wednesday to set up 711 ATMs at railway stations across the country. This is the second biggest MoU for Railways after SBI signed an agreement with it in August to install ATMs at 681 stations across the country, with e-ticketing facility at 383 major stations in association with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp.

News

Canara Bank raises $1.3 billion The bank has received a record $1.3 billion worth of subscription against the offering of $250 million for raising Tier-II capital. The issue, priced at par, has a coupon rate of 1.29% over the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR). the tenure of the bond issue is 15 years. the bank can exercise a call option at the end of tenth year. After this issue bank will have Capital Adequacy Ratio of over 13%. Dena Bank scheme to double investment Dena bank has launched a new scheme, Dena Double Deposit Scheme, which gives an opportunity to the investor to double their investment in a maturity period of eight years nine months. The scheme will remain operational from Monday till March 31, 2007. The bank provides 8% interest per annum to the general public and 8.55% to senior citizens.

The Bank Page: Bank Stock News

The Bank Page: Bank Stock News

Bank Stock News

Andhra Bank --- BUY Business Line (19.11.2006) An investment may be considered in the stock of Andhra Bank with a one-year perspective. The bank's increasing focus on high-yielding loan segments, buoyancy in fee income and ability to mop up low-cost funds augur well for its growth over the medium term. For the September quarter, the bank has turned in a good set of numbers. Its strategy of adopting a controlled credit growth without unduly stretching its balance sheet appears to have paid off. Unlike many other banks, which have grown their loan book by about 40 per cent, Andhra Bank has recorded a modest 23 per cent growth in advances. By restricting its deposits growth to nine per cent against the industry average of 20 per cent, and staying away from bulk deposits to a large extent, the bank has managed to expand its net interest margins by about 10 basis points to 3.82 per cent on a sequential basis. The growth in low-cost deposits has also helped the bank in containing costs. Low-cost deposits, which grew by 21 per cent YoY, now accounts for close to 40 per cent of its total deposits. Non-fund based activities that remained relatively dull during FY 06 are now beginning to pick up sharply. The fee income has risen by 35 per cent in second quarter on the back of 12 per cent increase in first quarter. The momentum in the fee income is likely to remain high on the back of its initiatives in third-party distribution and credit cards business. The deliberate change in loan-mix with higher focus on high-yielding segments such as retail, agriculture and SMEs also augur well. The growth in retail assets has been highest at 36 per cent. Andhra Bank sports one of the cleanest balance sheets with bad loans constituting 0.1of net advances. Higher provisioning coverage (93.5 per cent) coupled with faster recoveries also offers a great deal of comfort on the asset quality. The bank's ability to sustain its return on networth of 18 per cent post-equity expansion is a strong positive. Even with a modest profit growth of 10-12 per cent, the bank is likely to sustain its return on equity. The stock is quoting at a P/BV of 1.3 times its trailing 12 months earnings and appears attractively valued.

Recruitment

State Bank of India and subsidaries call for Specialist Officers/Executives Last date for sending application : 09.12.2006 For details kindly visit www.statebankofinida.com www.employmentnews.gov.in or see employment news dated 18-24 November2006

Recruitment

IDBI Bank ltd: Post : Assistant Manager (Grade A) Number of posts : 550 Last date for receipt of application : 05-12-2006 (from far flung areas-15-12-2006) Reservation : As per government rules Eligibility Criteria: 1. Graduate in any discipline from a recognized university 2. The candidate should have minimum 3 years banking experience including clerical/executive experience or 1 year banking experience as an officer. Contractual experience will not be considered. Core banking experience will be desirable. Age (as on November 1,2006) Not more than 28 years. SC/ST/OBC/PH/Ex-servicemen will be eligible for relaxation as per government rules. Pay and Other benefits: 1. The starting basic pay would be Rs.11,250/- per month. The gross monthly emoluments at the start of scale would be Rs.15,600/- 2.In addition to pay and allowances, the selected candidate will be eligible for benefits like pension, gratuity, leave fare concession, reimbursement of medical expenses, vehicle maintenance allowance, vehicle loan, housing loan etc. as per banks rules. Bank accommodation will be provided subject to availability. Selection Process: Selection process will comprise of Written Test followed by Personal interview for those who qualify in written test. The written test will comprise of a) Test of Reasoning b) Test of English Language c) Test of quantitative Aptitude d) Test of General and Financial Awareness Test Centers: 1. Mumbai 2. Delhi 3.Kolkata 4. Chennai 5.Guwahati For more information and application form: www.idbibank.com www.employmentnews.gov.in or employment news dated 18-24 November 2006

News

Capital market exposure of Banks may go up If the modified Reserve Bank of India guidelines come into force from January 2007, the aggregated capital market exposure of banks can go up to 40% of their networth on both solo and consolidated basis. However, banks' direct capital market exposure will be limited to 20 percent of their individual net worth. Currently, banks' capital market exposure is restricted at 5 percent of their total outstanding advances. Within the overall new ceiling of 40 percent, banks' direct investment in shares, convertible bonds, debentures, units of equity oriented mutual funds and all exposure to venture capital funds should not exceed 20 percent of their net worth.

Class Room

Innovative instruments to raise banking capital Sunil Gidwani & Robin Roy (Business Line 18.11.2006) In an age where risk determined performance management is increasingly getting into board level agendas and where moves towards capital convergence are the order of the day, banks are compelled to look at innovative ways of continuously shoring up their capital base. Over the years since Basel I, banks have been providing for expected credit losses on credit portfolios, based on their historical defaults. Banks are currently required to provide for adequate capital for both credit and market risks on their banking and investment portfolios respectively. Under Basel II, banks can expect to put aside capital according to the "riskiness" of their credit portfolios and are now requird to have a capital cover for operational risks. Though Basel II is not a legal document, to synchronise with global trends and expectations of all stakeholders, banks are planning to adopt these guidelines as per local regulatory directives. In India, the transition to the new capital adequacy framework in accordance with Basel II norms (originally scheduled for March 2007 but recently extended), would require banks to raise additional capital, particularly for some of their credit portfolios and operational risk. Till now banks have not had many options to raise capital. It is here that the recent RBI guidelines, which allow banks to raise capital by issue of Innovative Perpetual Debt Instruments (IPDI) and Debt Capital, open the doors for looking at "innovative instruments" to raise further capital. Lets's take a look at the salient features of these instruments and the minimum qualifying requirements: Innovative Perpetual Debt Instruments are eligible to be issued as Tier I capital. It can be issued in rupees or with prior approval in foreign currency. Maximum amount that can be raised is 15 % of Tier I capital reduced by intangible asset. As the name suggest, the maturity period is perpetual. The instruments can be issued at fixed or floating rate referenced to a market determined rupee interest benchmark rate. As regards trading in options, investors are not allowed to exercise put options. Call options are exercisable only after 10 years and with RBI approval. Step option can be exercised in conjunction with the call option, and the step-up not nore than 100 bps. If the capital adequacy ratio is not met, then there can be lock-in period for the interest payment. In case of losses, RBI approval is required for payment of interest. Debt capital instruments are eligible to be issued as Upper Tier II capital. Maximum amount that can be raised should not exceed Tier I capital reduced by intangible assets. The maturity period is minimum of 15 years. The instruments can be issued at fixed or floating rate referenced to a market determined rupee interest benchmark rate. As regards trading in options, investors are not allowed to exercise put options. Call options are exercisable only after 10 years and with RBI approval. From the aforesaid features one can note that these instruments can be termed as what are globally known as hybrid intruments, that is, those having characteristics of both equity and debt capital which exhibit all the benefits of debt but can be treated as equity, creating a powerful proposition. This enables spacing out of maturity profiles of instruments.

Class Room

Gold based deposit scheme - proposal Bankers are trying to moot a gold-based scheme to raise the long term deposits. The scheme will be designed to induce people to invest in the yellow metal while simultaneously offering banks a new source of funds. The 'Gold Accumulation Scheme' as it is being referred to, was discussed by bankers at a meeting convened by Indian Banks' Association on Thursday. The proposed scheme will work like this; A customer can buy gold by depositing the market price of the metal with the bank. The bank will provide the customer a receipt for physical deposit of gold. The customer can either get the gold in physical form or its value at the prevailing market price anytime after a specified period, say five or 10 years. A customer can keep on depositing funds ( in other words, buying gold ) at intervals of his convenience and accumulate it for 5-10 years. Interest at a nominal rate will be paid on the deposit. For the customer, it will work like a Systematic Investment Plan. On the other part, banks will buy gold futures to hedge against price variations.

News

'Bank boards must check for compliance' The board of directors of banks will be responsible for ensuring that an appropriate compliance policy is in place to effectively manage compliance risk faced by banks, said the Reserve Bank of India in a notification issued. Compliance includes strict observance of all statutory provisions contained in various legislations and also following the guidelines issued by organisations such as Indian Banks' Association, Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association of India, Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India and so on, it said. The board may set up a separate board or committee for this purpose, which should review compliance function on a quarterly basis. A compliance department should be set up at the head office of the bank or in the case of foreign banks, it should be at the banks' principal office in India. The chief compliance officer should be the nodal point of contact between the bank and regulator. No lock-in period for NRIs' sale proceeds The RBI has dispensed with the lock-in period for remittance of sale proceeds of immovable property of NRIs or Persons of Indian Origin from their Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts in India. The remittance of such sale proceeds was subject to a lock-in period of 10 years. Karnataka Bank offers new facility Karnataka Bank Ltd has enabled its real time gross settlement (RTGS) facility MoneyQuick under Internet banking. Customers using the bank's Internet banking facility would be able to transfer funds from their account to their or third party accounts at RTGS-enabled branches of other banks across the country Banks want registry to check asset stripping In India, banks have been at the receiving end of borrowers who after defaulting on their payments dispose off assets which are charged to lenders. In many cases, legal action has followed well after the assets have been stripped totally. The problem could have been obviated if policy makers had moved on a few initiatives like the setting up a central registry for registering both immovable and movable assets. The Asian Development Bank has sounded out the government about its willingness to provide technical and financial assistance in setting up an electronic operated central registry. It will enable banks to have access to data and information on defaulters among borrowers as well as properties that are already pledged with other lenders. A central registry could help curtail asset stripping and minimise frauds among borrowers.

News

Tarapore warns against SBI ownership transfer The former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Chairman of the Committee on Fuller Capital Account Convertibility, Mr S.S. Tarapore, has cautioned against the impending transfer of ownership of State Bank of India from the RBI to the Government. Mr Tarapore felt that this transfer would aggravate the problem of capital strengthening of public sector banks, as the Government is already finding it difficult to infuse more capital in these banks. PNB launches health insurance product Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched PNB Arogya Shree to provide health insurance for its 35 million customers. The new offering is a product of Reliance General that has been tailor-made for PNB customers. Our large customer base has helped us in getting the premium amount lowered. It will have additional features and would be marketed through our branches," Mr K. Raghuraman, Executive Director, told. The scheme would initially be available on a pilot basis at 64 select core banking solution (CBS) branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow with effect from today. This pilot would run until December 31. From January 2007, the product would be available at about 450 CBS branches across the country. Union Bank launches new service Union Bank of India has launched Union Mitr, a financial education counselling service, available at 51 centres across the country. This service will offer information on products, services, and provide guidance on opening a bank account, information on managing savings, as well as on management of existing debt. The bank plans to use village knowledge centres, which are attached to rural branches, for this purpose. HSBC to charge for current accounts HSBC Holdings has become the first major British bank to say it will start charging for a current account, raising the prospect that other lenders will follow suit and end free current-account banking. HSBC's online banking arm First Direct is to charge £19 per month for customers who do not deposit £1,500 per month or maintain an average balance of £1,500. Sources at several banks told in April that free account current banking could end as banks sought recoup money lost as regulators clamped down on fees in other areas. HSBC and Barclays introduced free banking about 20 years ago and Britain remains one of only a handful of countries not to charge customers who remain in credit RBI clamps down on Sangli Bank The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed some restrictions on the ailing Sangli Bank, including expansion of advances, as the small-size private sector bank's capital adequacy has fallen to 1.84 per cent. The financial health of the bank, having presence in the sugar belt of south-western Maharashtra, turned precarious in 2005-06 as its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) nosedived to 1.64 per cent from 9.30 per cent in March 2005. The banking sector regulator has asked the bank management not to go in for large deposits and not to increase the lending exposure.There are restrictions on opening new branches as well. In 2005-06, Sangli Bank had posted a loss of Rs 29.27 crore for the second year in a row. Sangli Bank is among a few other private banks - Ratnakar Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank and Citi Union Bank - which are way behind in meeting the banking regulator's norm of a minimum net worth of Rs 300 crore. No mobiles in Bihar banks Alarmed by rise in the incidents of bank robbery in Bihar, the state police has warned of penal action if its directive to switch off the mobile phones while entering banks in the state capital is not being strictly adhered to. A decision to ban the use of the mobile phones was taken at a meeting of senior police officials with representatives of various nationalised and private banks yesterday. Now closed-circuit cameras would be installed at the main entrance of the banks besides at the cash counters and the strong rooms.

Class Room

Security Alert--------Phishing Phishing is a recent form of cyber attack in which the fraudsters induce internet users to divulge sensitive, confidential information relating to bank accounts. the technique uses email to "fish" the internet hoping to " hook" users into supplying them the login-IDs, passwords, PINs, credit card information etc. In a typical phishing attack, a user receives an email purported to be sent by a financial institution. The email will carry the spoofed ( spoofing: creating a look alike/shadow/mirror copy) image or logo of the financial institution and will attempt to convince the user to provide / part with personal, account details by directing him to visit a web link (hyperlink) given in the email message. when the user clicks the hyperlink, he will be led to a fictitious web page, which will be a look alike / exact replica of the website of the financial institution but hosted by the fraudsters. An unsuspecting user, unaware of such a malicious activity will be requested to provide his personal / account details in the fraudulent website in the pretext of some exigencies like updating bank's database, for cross-verification etc. The fraudsters then use the information for fraudulent transactions causing huge financial losses to the individuals and financial institutions. Phishing attacks involve thousands of users. In a single phishing attack, a fraudulent email message is sent to thousands of users with the hope that at least a small percentage of users will respond. The trends show that on an average, 5-10% users respond to such e-mails. Successful phishing counter measures involve educating the users to be careful while handling emails even though they appear to be emanating from legitimate sources. What needs to be remembered is that banks will not request customers for such sensitive information in the first instance, leave alone through relatively unreliable modes like internet / email etc. This necessitates an user to pay close attention to the contents of any email that seek any personal information. The basic approach for an effective anti-phishing effort includes detection, prevention and awareness. The phishing menace cannot be handled solely by the end-users, financial institutions nor stringent industry standards but the solution lies in taking counter measures at all levels. All users in the bank should exercise caution while disclosing personal information on the internet / e-mail.

News

Canara Banks Children Deposit Scheme Canara Bank is launching a deposit scheme for children upto 12 years on Children's Day. Called 'SB Canchamp Deposit Scheme' it allows children to start a deposit with a minimum amount of Rs.100. On opening the account, the deposit holder will get a savings box and a personal photo folder-cum-memoir. The child will also get an education loan eligibility card. Using the card, the child can avail educational loan as per the prevailing bank scheme once he or she completes HSC of plus two. ICICI banks NRI deposit scheme ICICI bank has introduced a new product ' NRI SmartSave Deposit', a fixed deposit scheme for non-resident Indians. Under this scheme, a customer who has a fixed deposit in any bank's overseas branch can get the amount transferred to ICICI bank in India on maturity. The bank will settle all the paper work. Even after the amount is transferred to India, the deposit will continue to remain in NRE/NRO savings account. The bank is also offering free international credit card insurance and free personal accident insurance with the scheme. RBI clarification on Duplicate Draft ( Financial Express 14.10.06) The RBI said in case of delay in issue of duplicate demand draft beyond a fortnight, banks have to pay interest at the rate applicable for fixed deposit of corresponding maturity only to the purchaser or beneficiary of the draft and not a third party. RBI said the period of a fortnight for issue of duplicate demand draft would apply only in cases where the request has been made by the purchaser or the beneficiary. This would not be applicable in case of third pary endorsements, RBI said in a release.

News

Banks propose fee for pass books Banks have appealed to the RBI to relax its recent stipulation making issue of passbooks compulsory and free of cost to savings bank account holders. Some banks, particularly large private and foreign banks, are of the view that this adds to their cost. 6000 SBI officers opt for early exit Over 6000 officers of SBI have sought early separation (retirement) for reasons ranging from bleak future career prospects to difficulty in adjusting with information technology and intensive work environment. At present the total officers strength of the bank is 55000. The scheme which was thrown open in April 2005 was closed by October end this year. SBI faces regulatory resistance overseas SBI which has a presence in 30 countries, has faced regulatory resistance in three countries -- US, Singapore and Australia -- in its foray into full fledged banking operations. Even the Singapore Monetory Authority has asked SBI to furnish a sovereign guarantee to allow upgradation of its offshore banking operation to undertake retail banking. However, the bank, on its part, has refused to agree to Singapore financial regulator's diktat. Even, ICICI Bank is facing stiff resistance in the US and Singapore in its expansion efforts. The latest to deny SBI a full license to undertake comprehensive banking activities is Australia. The Australian banking regulator has given a much restricted license to SBI to upgrade the bank's rep office in Sydney, while the bank has applied for a full license to enter all aspects of banking including local banking, trade finance, treasury operations and even investment banking. The bank has not been allowed to accept public deposits and can only accept deposits from corporates.

Bank Stock News

DCB to consider raising FII limit Development credit Bank Ltd board is meeting on November 24 to discuss options to raise capital and increase the cap of FII investment. Lakshmi Vilas bank to issue bonus, rights The bank has fixed November 24 as the record date to determine the shareholders eligible for bonus and rights issue. The bonus shares will be issued in the ratio of 1:2 ( one share for every two held). The rights issue will be in the ratio of 1:1 (one share for one share held) at a price of Rs.50 per share (Rs.10 face value plus Rs.40 premium), however the bonus shares would be excluded while determining the rights shares entitlement.

News

Capital rejig -- to look attractive Public sector banks hoping to go public have to clean up their books and reduce their bloated equity base. The likes of Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, United Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank are in the process of doing just that. They do this in two stages. In the first stage, they ask the Government to write off the accumulated losses against the capital infused by the Government. In the second stage, a portion of the remaining equity (afte the write-off) is converted into preference capital that will carry an interest rate of about 8%, subject to government approval. Indian Bank, for instance, set off accumulated losses of about Rs.3,800 crore against its capital base of Rs.4,574 crore. It further got the Government to convert about Rs.400 crore of equity into preference capital. Following there steps, the bank's earnings per share improves from a little over Rs.1 per share to nearly Rs.7 (before conversion to preference) and about Rs.14 per share after conversion based on March 2006 earnings. HDFC Bank gets notice on credit card promises The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) issues a notice of inquiry to HDFC Bank for not preventing direct selling agents from making false promises to its credit card customers. The report alleged that the customers were not told the terms and conditions when they signed the documents given by direct selling agents (DSAs) and the card holders come to know about the terms only after receiving the plastic money. The report also said the customers are not revealed schedule of charges to be levied by the bank, the method of calculating interest rates and penal charges. HDFC Bank has outsourced credit card selling business to 11 companies in the National Capital Region. These companies appoint DSAs to sell the credit cards. Customers are not informed that DSAs are not employees of HDFC Bank, the report said. Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) --- Senior Citizens The RBI has told several commercial banks not to deduct interest tax payable on fixed deposits of senior citizens. Senior citizens are eligible for tax exemption on the interest earned on fixed deposits for which they have to submit Form 15 H and Form 15 G to their respective banks. The Finance ministry is receiveing complaints that several banks are deducting tax even after senior citizens submit the forms. Most of the banks to whom notices have gone are in public sector, ICICI Bank is the only private bank. DCB to consider raising FII limit Development credit Bank Ltd board is meeting on November 24 to discuss options to raise capital and increase the cap of FII investment.