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

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

Bank of Baroda Recruitment for Specialist in senior management category

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

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

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

SBI goes aggressive on stocks

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

Encashment norms for joint term deposit holders eased

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

ING Vysya's new deposit scheme

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

Union Bank to enter MF biz

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

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

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

SBI mulls VRS for 40K staff

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

RBI plugs loophole in forex management regulations

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

OBC is recruiting - Click here for more details

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

Banks asked to unwind guarantees to FIIs

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

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

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

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

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

Corporation Bank offering ‘financial health check-up’

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

Canara Bank hikes offer price for Can Fin

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

OBC is Recruiting - Click here for more details

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

PSUs join talent hunt with big hiring plans

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

Insurance investments, banking may need PAN

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

IOB to accept tax payments

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