1. Syndicate Bank has launched a new product `Synd Gold Express' for giving quick service to its jewel loan customers. Special counters will be opened in select branches. The entire process will be completed within 10 minutes. The bank has designated 11 of its branches in Tamil Nadu for this scheme.
2. 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. While PSBs issue passbooks, large private and foreign banks issue only statements.
3. Bonds remained range-bound supported by the global crude oil price retreat, but high credit offtake prevented yields from softening in the current busy season. Traders, however, remained tense over repeated statements from the Finance Ministry over the proposed thrust on lending to physical infrastructure sectors and fiscal tightening. In fact, the Finance Ministry is for greater bank finance availability to the physical infrastructure sector, especially power, roads, shipping and ports. This would cause a further acceleration in the credit growth from the current 30 per cent on a year-on- year basis. The proposal when materialises is likely to choke off credit taps to housing /real estate sectors and open the same to the physical infrastructure sectors.
4. Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company, expects interest rates to increase a little further from now to February or March next year, as liquidity gets tighter.
5. Information security needs to be recognised as a separate function such as marketing, human resources or accounting, especially in banking, according to Mr Anoop Narayanan, Security Consultant, First Legion Consulting. People are the internal source of frauds and in spite of the best technologies available, the biggest threats - human frauds, incompetence and errors - make it impossible to implement these technologies.
6. Mason & Summers Leisure Pvt Ltd has entered into a strategic partnership with ICICI Bank, to market the Bank's Travel card for Indians traveling abroad. A virtual replacement for paper currency or traveler's cheques, the card comes with six foreign currency denominations, the US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Great Britain Pounds, Swiss Francs, Euro and the Australian Dollar. The travel card is equipped with security features, and is the only card that offers comprehensive insurance features and international medical and travel referral service.
7. Exim Bank has entered into a loan agreement for Japanese yen equivalent to $100 mn with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation in Tokyo. The proceeds of the financing will be applied towards strengthening Indo-Japanese business relationships, Indo-Japanese joint ventures and subsidiaries both in India as well as overseas and other eligible uses.
8. Bankers expect their derivative business to grow by 20-25% in the current fiscal as more and more Indian corporates are going for this financial tool to hedge their foreign exchange and interest rate risks.
