Award for Corp Bank

Corporation Bank has been awarded the second runner-up in the IBA Banking Technology Award 2012-13 for the ‘best use of mobility technology in banking’ under the category of public sector banks. SR Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director, received the award from Raghunath A Mashelkar, Chairman, National Innovation Foundation, in Mumbai on January 27.

Indian Overseas Bank Q3

IOB has reported a 35% drop in net profit at 75 Cr for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, against 116 Cr posted for the comparable previous year quarter. M Narendra, CMD of the bank, attributed the fall in net profit to higher provisioning towards bad debts and restructured accounts. The bank reported a slippage of 1,615 Cr during the quarter. According to Narendra, the bank provided 690 Cr for bad debts this quarter against 486 Cr in the previous quarter, and hence the coverage ratio was close to 57%. Total income went up by 6% to 6,190 Cr (5,846 Cr). “The year so far has been very challenging. And we have been focussing on recovery, and have recovered 206 Cr during the period,” he said. The bank’s net interest margin went down to 2.26% for the period, from 2.39% in the previous year period. Gross non-performing assets rose to 9,168 Cr (5.27%) during the quarter from 6,515 Cr (4.13%) last year. Net NPAs increased to 5,481 Cr (3.24%) for the quarter under consideration from 3,595 Cr (2.33%).

ICICI Bank Q3 profit rises 13%

ICICI Bank posted a 13% increase in net profit at 2,532 Cr for the December quarter, on stable interest income and healthy loan growth in the retail segment. Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, said that but for the provisions of 215 Cr towards additional deferred tax, the profit would have grown 22%. Provisions towards bad loans during the quarter rose 88% to 695 Cr from 369 Cr a year ago. Net interest income was at 4,255 Cr, up 22%. Non-interest income was up 26% at 2,801 Cr. The bank made a treasury profit of 447 Cr during the quarter, compared to a loss of 72 Cr in the second quarter. Despite the hike in policy rate, ICICI Bank expects to sustain its net interest margin as the bank’s dependence on short-term funding is low. Overall, the loan portfolio increased 16%, driven by 22% growth in retail advances. Given the challenges in the economic climate, the bank moderated its corporate loan growth to 7% (year-on-year) in the December-quarter, against 11% in the preceding quarter. Total deposits witnessed 11% growth including one-time deposits inflow of $2 billion raised via the FCNR (B) route. NPAs in net terms, worsened to 3,118 Cr compared to 2,182 Cr at Dec 31, 2012.

Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 : Statement by Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Good morning and welcome to the Reserve Bank.

Today, on the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, we have decided to increase the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 8.0 per cent.

2. Let me first address the balance of risks that confronts us in the evolving macroeconomic outlook. The slowdown in the economy is getting increasingly worrisome. Our current assessment is that growth is likely to lose momentum in Q3 of 2013-14, with industrial activity in contractionary mode, mainly on account of manufacturing. Lead indicators of services also suggest a subdued outlook, barring some pick-up in transport and communication activity. On the other hand, agricultural performance has so far been robust, and the strong pick-up in rabi sowing indicates that this should be sustained.

RBI surprises with 25 basis points rise in Repo Rate

 

Third Quarter Monetary Policy Review 28th Jan 2014

Mr. Raghuraman Rajan, Governer of Reserve Bank of India surprised the Banking circle with

Increase in the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 7.75 per cent to 8.0 per cent; and consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted at 7.0 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 9.0 per cent.

But the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled bankskept unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liability (NDTL).

The banking circle and the market was expecting the RBI Governer would keep the rates unchanged.

Following the recommendation of the Dr. Urjit Patel Committee, monetary policy reviews will ordinarily be undertaken in a two-monthly cycle, consistent with the availability of key macroeconomic and financial data. Accordingly, the next policy review is scheduled on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

Allahabad Bank net rises 4.6% to

Allahabad Bank reported a 4.6% increase in net profit to Rs 325 Cr for the quarter ending December 2013, compared to the same period last year. While net interest margin (NIM) remained flat at 2.75%, a 59% jump in ‘other income’ at Rs 542 Cr, due to “recoveries in written-off accounts”, contributed to profit growth. During the quarter, NPAs worth Rs 389 Cr were sold to asset reconstruction companies. According to the bank’s CMD Shubhalakshmi Panse, profits were subdued on account of higher provisioning for NPAs, possible wage revision and mark-to-market losses. Provisions and contingencies rose 29% to Rs 557 Cr. The provision coverage ratio was 42.93%. During the period, gross NPAs rose 256 bps to 5.47% (from 2.91%) of total advances. Net NPAs stood at 4.19%. In absolute terms, gross NPAs jumped 113% on a yearly basis to Rs 7,512 Cr, while net NPAs rose 128% to Rs 5,651 Cr.

SBH Q3

State Bank of Hyderabad posted a 63% drop in net profit at Rs 119 Cr during the third quarter (Sept-Dec) of the current financial year, as against a net of Rs 332 Cr in the corresponding period last financial year. Net interest income (NII) was up just 1.28% to Rs 989 Cr as against Rs 976 Cr last year. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) moved to Rs 5,589 Cr in December 2013 from Rs 3,186 Cr in March last year. Net NPAs too piled up to Rs 3,013 in December last year, as against Rs 1,449 Cr in March last. Net NPA ratio was higher at 3.21% from 1.61%. Total advances increased by Rs 4,784 Cr to reach Rs 96,955 Cr, while deposits grew by Rs 3,972 Cr at Rs 122,211 Cr. The total business stood at Rs 219,166 Cr as at the end of December 2013. The bank's credit deposit ratio increased to 79.13% in December 2013, up from 76.83% in December 2012.

Oriental Bank launches Aadhar based e-KYC service

Opening an account with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) could now turn out to be a hassle-free experience. This public sector bank has announced the launch of Aadhar-based electronic know your customer (e-KYC) service at its branches, making the account opening exercise less daunting for prospective customers. OBC has become the first public sector bank to launch e-KYC services in coordination with the National Payments Corporation of India and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a release issued by the bank said. A prospective customer looking to open an account in OBC will have to just walk into a branch and provide his/her Aadhar number and scan one of his enrolled fingerprint at biometric devices available at the branches. Using the e-KYC services of UIDAI, the bank will verify the identity and address of the customer and thereby reduce the processing time for opening an account.

IBA improves offer by 0.5%

Bipartite settlement held today 27th January 2014 between IBA and UFBU to settle the wage settlement of bankers saw IBA improvings its offer by 0.5% to 10% and the unions rejecting the same and announcing strike on 10th and 11th of February 2014.

UCO Bank Q3

Public sector lender UCO Bank announced a whopping 206.95% y-o-y jump in its net profit to Rs 314.53 Cr for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, from Rs 102.47 Cr in the year-ago period. This was largely on the account of a more than 36% jump in its operating profit. The Kolkata-headquartered bank’s asset quality also improved as the gross as well as net non-performing assets (NPAs) were trimmed. The bank’s operating profit rose to Rs 1,137 Cr for the third quarter this fiscal against Rs 831 Cr in the year-ago period, on the back of a substantial rise in net interest income (NII). NII during the period under review stood at Rs 1,566 Cr against Rs 1,177 Cr in the year-ago period, registering 32.97% y-o-y growth. Retail lending saw a high growth, while corporate lending declined. UCO Bank CMD Arun Kaul attributed the more-than-three-fold rise in net profit to healthy growth in net interest income, rise in Casa ratio and a decrease in cost of funds.

Kharb Allahabad Bank's new ED

Allahabad Bank on Friday said Jal Karan Singh Kharb has joined the state-run lender as an executive director. He started his career with Dena Bank as a probationary officer in 1983 and was the general manager of the bank prior to this appointment. He is an LLB with CAIIB (II).

Central Bank of India's new ED

B K Divakara has taken charge as executive director at Central Bank of India. Prior to taking charge of the new assignment, he was working as general manager with Mangalore-based Corporation Bank, another public sector lender.

Karnataka Bank profit up 33%

Karnataka Bank saw its net profit grow 33.25% to 106.7 Cr in the third quarter of 2013-14. P. Jayarama Bhat, Managing Director, attributed the net profit growth to the 19.2% rise in net interest income and lower slippages compared to the first and second quarters of this fiscal. The NII increased to 271.50 Cr (227.80 Cr). The net NPA reached 2.23% (2.19%) during the period. On the outlook for the fourth quarter of 2013-14, he said: “We should grow better than all these three quarters, and we are looking at a guidance of around 2.75% for NIM (net interest margin) and return on assets (RoA) of 1%. The RoA was 0.96% for Q3 of 2013-14 and 0.71% for the nine-month period. The deposits stood at 38,683 Cr (34,620 Cr), and advances at 27,005 Cr (23,404 Cr). The bank’s effort to increase the retail loan book has started yielding results, he said.

E-donation facility

Corporation Bank has facilitated ‘e-Kanike/e-Donation’ service through its e-payment gateway for the benefit of the devotees of Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple, Thiruvananthapuram. A press statement by the bank said on Tuesday that the devotees across the world could just click in and offer donation or book for different ‘sevas’. S.R. Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, inaugurated the ‘e-Kanike’ facility at the zonal office of the bank in Thiruvananthapuram in the presence of Lt Col S.R. Bhuvanendran Nair, Executive Officer of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Girdhar Shenoy and Lakshminatha Reddy, general managers of the bank, were present on the occasion.

The Bank is already having E-kanike/E-donation facility for following temples

Dharmasthala Sri Manjunatha Swami Temple  

Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt   

Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple                   

Indian Bank Q3 net down 20% as provisioning rises

Indian Bank has reported a 20% drop in net profit at Rs 264.50 Cr for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, against Rs 330.58 Cr in the corresponding previous-year period. T. M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, attributed the drop in net profit to additional provisions of around Rs165 Cr made towards pension fund and gratuity. The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) grew to 3.42% (Rs 3,834.78 Cr) during the quarter, from 3.18% (Rs 3,180.12 Cr) in the same period of last year. The net NPA too rose to 2.25% (Rs 2,483.60 Cr) from 2.17% (Rs 2,141.86 Cr). However, Bhasin said the bank has made a robust recovery of 539 Cr during the quarter. The gross NPA has come down to 3.42%, from 3.76% for the quarter ended September 2013, aided by their sale to asset reconstruction companies. The bank has a provision coverage of 57.99%. During the quarter, non-performing assets aggregating to Rs 389.97 Cr (net of provisions) were sold to asset reconstruction companies for Rs 675.71 Cr. Bhasin said, in addition to the above, the bank has identified 19 large-value accounts (totalling around 300 Cr) to sell to ARCs.

SBI launches Youtube channel

Nation’s largest lender State Bank of India strengthened its social media presence with the launch of its channel on popular video sharing website Youtube and said it will also be launching its handle on the micro-logging site Twitter soon. “The YouTube channel is another platform that will enable us to connect with our customers. SBI will continue to spread its footprint on social media through the launch of platforms like Twitter, shortly,” Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said in a statement. The YouTube channel, which follows a dedicated Facebook page launch in November, will initially have information about the bank’s products and services and its legacy to begin with and will gradually include philanthropic initiatives, it said in a statement. SBI, has over 200 years of history. It has over 15,000 branches and over 43,000 ATMs. The bank statement said the Youtube channel will help it connect with the young and technologically savvy customers.

Banks not to credit "account payee" cheque proceeds to third party

In a circular issued on 22nd January 2014 the RBI has strictly prohibited the banks from crediting  'account payee' cheques to the account of any person other than the payee named therein. RBI reiterated its previous circulars and instructed that banks should strictly collect ‘account payee’ cheques only for their payee constituents.

Banks may, however, consider collecting account payee cheques drawn for an amount not exceeding Rs.50,000/- to the account of their customers who are co-operative credit societies, if the payees of such cheques are the constituents of such co-operative credit societies

Bank notes issued prior to 2005 will be withdrawn from 31st March 2014

The Reserve Bank of India has today (22nd January 2014) advised that after March 31, 2014, it will completely withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005. From April 1, 2014, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes. Banks will provide exchange facility for these notes until further communication. The Reserve Bank further stated that public can easily identify the notes to be withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not have on them the year of printing on the reverse side.

The Reserve Bank has also clarified that the notes issued before 2005 will continue to be legal tender. This would mean that banks are required to exchange the notes for their customers as well as for non-customers. From July 01, 2014, however, to exchange more than 10 pieces of `500 and `1000 notes, non-customers will have to furnish proof of identity and residence to the bank branch in which she/he wants to exchange the notes.

The Reserve Bank has appealed to the public not to panic. They are requested to actively co-operate in the withdrawal process.

Major lenders for Kingfisher Airlines

SBI has the largest exposure to Kingfisher at Rs 1,600 Cr, followed by Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank at Rs 800 Cr each. Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have an exposure of Rs 650 Cr and Rs 550 Cr, respectively.

9000% dividend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has declared an interim dividend of 9,000%. That’s actually Rs 900 per share of Rs 10 each, for the fiscal ending March 2014. The board of this Tuticorin-headquartered bank took a decision to this effect at a meeting held on January 18. Bank sources said this would translate into an outgo of Rs 25.6 Cr (unchanged from last year). The 9,000% interim dividend is said to be the highest in the banking industry and this is the second year in a row that the bank has declared such a high dividend. It may be recalled that the bank’s board had approved a dividend of Rs 750 per share for 2008-09 and Rs 1,000 per share the following year, but could not make the payment as the annual general meetings for 2009-10 and 2010-11 were not held due to legal issues. The AGMs for the subsequent years have also not been held till date. As a result of the legal tangles, the bank has been compelled to hold back some major decisions, including the plan to go for an initial public offering. Bank sources said TMB’s shares continue to trade at between Rs 60,000 and Rs 65,000 a share in the informal market.