Open for talks with unions, says IBA chief

With the two-day strike by the United Forum of Bank Unions hardly a fortnight away, the chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association, Mohan V. Tanksale, has said the bank managements are open for negotiations. “The IBA is open for negotiations with the unions on their demands,” Tanksale told. “We have invited them for discussions for January 29.” He said the IBA, which represents the managements of nationalised, private and foreign banks in the country, had already offered a 5% hike in salary. He also pointed out that the Chief Labour Commissioner had called the bank unions and the IBA for reconciliation on January 13, ahead of the proposed strike by UFBU on January 20-21. UFBU, a collective of ten major unions of bank employees and officers, is planning to go on a nation-wide strike starting from the morning of January 20 to press for its demand for wage revision.

Open for talks with unions, says IBA chief

With the two-day strike by the United Forum of Bank Unions hardly a fortnight away, the chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association, Mohan V. Tanksale, has said the bank managements are open for negotiations. “The IBA is open for negotiations with the unions on their demands,” Tanksale told. “We have invited them for discussions for January 29.” He said the IBA, which represents the managements of nationalised, private and foreign banks in the country, had already offered a 5% hike in salary. He also pointed out that the Chief Labour Commissioner had called the bank unions and the IBA for reconciliation on January 13, ahead of the proposed strike by UFBU on January 20-21. UFBU, a collective of ten major unions of bank employees and officers, is planning to go on a nation-wide strike starting from the morning of January 20 to press for its demand for wage revision.

SBI offers 2-year sabbatical to women staff

 

 

 

 

Women employees of SBI can now take two-year sabbatical leave from work for purposes like children’s education. SBI is likely to extend this facility to single male parents as well. “We have brought in a two-year sabbatical for our women staff in case they want to take it for any purposes like education of their children, taking care of the elderly parents/in-laws,” Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman to head SBI, told.

DCB bank offers 10.97% p.a. on fixed deposits !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't be misled by the advertisement the bank is giving in the newspaper and its website. There is small catch * T & C apply. Now a days banks are also offering misleading advertisements to get the attention of customers. See the above advertisement bank is actually paying 9.60% p.a. for the fixed deposits of less than one crore for the period 24 months to 36 months. Then wherecome 10.97% ??. The bank is using 'effective yield'  as the tool. The effective yield works out to be 10.97% for the above period. But the bank's should not use such misleading ads for attracting customers.

The DCB Bank is offering 9.6% for deposits of less than one crore for the period 24 months to 36 months and the senior citizens will get 0.5% above this rate for the same tenure.

IBA offer of 5% rise in payslip bill inadequate: Unions

While bank managements, under the aegis of the Indian Banks Association, are ready to bear the burden of a 5% increase in the payslip component of the total wage bill, trade unions in the banking sector say the increase in not adequate if one takes into account the rising inflation. Mohan V. Tanksale, Chief Executive, IBA, said the offer of 5% increase in the pay slip bill was not acceptable to the unions.

ATM usage charges may rise

Banks are likely to start charging customers for transacting more than five times a month at any bank ATM, including their own bank. Banks have mooted the charge on ATM transactions to pay for the increased security costs at ATMs, put in place by many State Governments, following the grievous attack on a woman inside an ATM kiosk in Bangalore last November. Currently, there is no cap on the number of transactions that a customer can undertake at his own banks ATM. However, the number of free transactions at other banks ATMs has been capped at five a month. Banks may also down the shutters of some ATMs at night, especially at locations where footfalls are low. Banks have requested the RBI to allow them to increase the ATM interchange fees (the fees paid by the card-issuing bank to the acquiring bank) to Rs 18 from Rs 15 a transaction now. Further, they want to pass on the costs arising from the interchange fee and switching fee to customers from the sixth transaction onwards.

Bank Strike

Bank employees under UFBU (United Forum of Bank Unions) will be observing 2 days strike on 20th and 21st January 2014 for speedy settlement of their long pending wage settlement issue and also for stopping banking sector reforms. The wage settlement issue is pending for above one year now and there is no headway in the issue with IBA the negotiating body for the government offering meagre 5% increase in wage load which means 1% wage increase for the each 5 year duration for which the settlement runs. The UFBU also has not shown any inclination for speedy settlement as its added banking sector reforms as one of issue which should not have been mixed with wage settlement issue. The government is in no hurry to settle the issue as its busy in next poll process.

RBI releases Bhaskar panel report draft

 

 

 

 

RBI released a draft paper of the committee on financial benchmarks. RBI had announced constitution of a committee under Vijaya Bhaskar in June to study issues relating to financial benchmarks and submit the report by December 31. While the existing system was found generally satisfactory, the report recommends several measures to strengthen the benchmark quality, setting methodology and governance framework. "In line with the international move towards greater regulatory oversight of the benchmark setting process, the report reviews the existing regulatory powers of RBI over the financial benchmarks and recommends suitable amendments of the RBI Act," the banking regulator said in a press release on its website. RBI has invited public comments on the draft report.

 

 

Tax implications of various Bank Deposit products

The tax season is on. You must have invested in various bank deposits. What is the tax implicaitons of various bank deposit products ?

In Banks you will normally have Savings Bank Account, Current Account, Sweep Account, Recurring Account, Fixed Deposits, Cumulative Deposits. Let us know the tax implications one by one.

Savings Bank Account: Banks do not deduct any tax on the interest earned by you on your Savings Bank account balance. But the interest earned is Taxable. Its your responsibility to add it to your total income and pay tax accordingly. But the good thing is that if you are individual or HUF you can get tax exemption of Rs.10000 under Section 80 TTA on your interest earned on SB deposits.

Cabinet nod for conversion of pref shares into equity in 3 banks

The Union Cabinet has given its nod for conversion of perpetual non-cumulative preference shares held by the Government in three public sector banks — Indian Bank, UCO Bank and Vijaya Bank — into equity shares. PNCPS amounting to Rs 400 Cr, Rs 1,823 Cr and Rs 1,200 Cr in Indian Bank, UCO Bank and Vijaya Bank, respectively, will be converted into equity in favour of Central Government, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told. This move will increase the Centre’s holding in Indian Bank from 80% to 82.22%, in UCO Bank from 69.26% to 77.25% and in Vijaya Bank from 55.02% to 71.85%. The conversion, which will be done this fiscal, is however subject to SEBI as well as shareholder approvals. Chidambaram noted that conversion of PNCPS will bolster the tier-I capital of these three banks and make available more funds for meeting the credit needs of the productive sectors of the economy.

ATM transactions to cost more this year

 

You might have to pay more for your transactions at ATMs in the new year. Bankers have proposed a reduction in the number of free ATM transaction a month to five — irrespective of whether you are transacting at ATMs of your own bank or those of other lenders. At present, there is no cap on free transactions at own-bank ATMs, while customers can use other banks’ machines up to five times a month without any extra cost. And, there’s more. Bankers have also proposed to a working group on ATM security that the rate for each ATM transaction (interchange fee or charge) be raised from Rs 15 to Rs 18. Interchange fee implies a charge paid by a bank to another for acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually, it’s a fee that a merchant’s bank (the ‘acquiring bank’) pays a customer’s bank (the ‘issuing bank’).

New CMD for Vijaya Bank

 

V. Kannan has taken charge as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Vijaya Bank. He took charge from H.S. Upendra Kamath, who has demitted the office of CMD on attaining superannuation on December 31, 2013.

New CMD for Vijaya Bank

 

V. Kannan has taken charge as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Vijaya Bank. He took charge from H.S. Upendra Kamath, who has demitted the office of CMD on attaining superannuation on December 31, 2013.

Email instructions not to be followed

 

While encouraging customers to make use of Net banking facility, banks have started to voice their anxiety over rising Internet-related frauds. For instance, State Bank of India recently issued a circular asking its branches “not to carry out any financial transactions requested by NRI customers through e-mail, even if the request is made by a letter scanned as an attachment.” The branches have since stopped entertaining requests from NRI customers. “Not only are the customers at a loss, but the bank is also losing business. The circular follows instances of fraud brought to the notice of the bank based on instructions received from registered email IDs of NRI customers. “There have been cases of accountholders disputing the transactions subsequently.”

Syndicate Bank emblem colour

 

 

Syndicate Bank has changed the colour scheme of its emblem from new year . The new emblem is as above

RBI's clarification on Scribbling on Banknotes

In the wake of rumours circulating in the market that from January 1, 2014, banks will not accept banknotes with anything written on them, the Reserve Bank has urged members of public not to fall prey to such rumours and to use their banknotes without any fear. The Reserve Bank of India has clarified it has NOT issued any such instructions.

It has further clarified that it had issued instructions on August 14, 2013 only to banks advising them to instruct their staff not to scribble or write on the body of the banknotes since it was observed that the bank officials themselves were in the habit of writing on banknotes which went against the Reserve Bank’s Clean Note Policy.

Reiterating that writing or scribbling on banknotes works against its Clean Note Policy, the Reserve Bank has also sought co-operation from all members of public, institutions and others in keeping the banknotes clean by not writing/scribbling anything on them.

Happy New Year 2014

Wishing all my readers  a very happy new year

Old Private Sector Banks Share performance 2013

Old Private Sector Banks Share performance 2013

Bank	31.12.2013	31.12.2012	Return
City Union Bank	51.70	55.95	-8%
Dhanalaxmi Bank	40.70	66.60	-39%
Federal Bank	84.05	107.66	-22%
ING Vysya Bank	612.45	526.25	+16%
Jammu & Kashmir Bank	1436.40	1297.20	+11%
Karnataka Bank	111.25	167.55	-34%
Karur Vysya Bank	347.75	561.15	-38%
Lakshmi Vilas Bank	70.40	101.70	-31%
South Indian Bank	20.30	27.20	-25%

 

New Private Sector Banks share performance 2013

New Private Sector Banks Share performance 2013

Bank	31.12.2013	31.12.2012	Return
Axis Bank	1299.55	1356.50	-4%
Development Credit Bank	54.40	48.75	+12%
HDFC Bank	665.85	678.80	-2%
ICICI Bank	1098.75	1137.30	-3%
IndusInd Bank	420.70	416.85	+1%
Kotak Mahindra Bank	728.25	649.60	+12%
Yes Bank	370.20	464.20	-20%

 

SBI Group Share Performance 2013

SBI Group Share performance 2013

Bank	31.12.2013	31.12.2012	Return
State Bank of India	1766.50	2383.75	-26%
State Bank of Mysore	422.95	660.10	-36%
State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur	317.60	449.35	-29%
State Bank of Travancore	422.90	574.70	-26%