1. Catholic Syrian Bank’s capital raising plans are likely to be further delayed with the RBI asking the bank to first seek the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for its proposed private placement of equity shares. CSB had applied to the RBI for permission to privately place about 15% stake in the bank for about Rs 35 crs with investors from Mauritius.
2. The Union Bank of India’s capital market exposure limit may decline by over Rs 400 crs to about Rs 1,630 crs owing to the RBI’s new draft guidelines on capping bank capital.
3. RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan has said it was possible to bring down interest rates in the medium term provided there is greater price stability.
4. With the advent of corporate giants like Reliance, Godrej Agrovet, Bharti in the agri-sector in Chandigarh, the private sector banks are now concentrating on priority sector lending. They are looking for tie-ups with the corporate giants so that they can lend to the farmers who are into contract farming.
5. Banks will now have to check whether a housing loan is being sought for an authorised structure and seek an undertaking that construction is being done in accordance with the sanctioned building plan. Banks have also been asked to ensure that the sanctioned building plan is attached with such an undertaking. These directives from RBI to banks are a follow-up to an order of the Delhi High Court. Banks are advised to strictly comply with the directions with immediate effect. For a housing loan for purchase of constructed property/built-up property, banks are required to obtain from the applicant a declaration that the built-up property has been constructed in accordance with the sanctioned plan and/or building bye-laws.
6. It has been more than a year since the monsoon floods devastated Mumbai in July 2005, but ICICI Bank is still grappling with the damage left in the aftermath. Documents submitted by many of the bank’s customers for safekeeping were damaged in the floods. These include papers submitted as part of opening savings and current accounts, demat accounts, home loan and auto loan accounts and ICICI Direct online trading accounts. The damage was not restricted only to customers based in Mumbai, for certain types of accounts, it touched even customers from other parts of the country. In fact, it has taken ICICI Bank almost 15 months to identify the customers who need to resubmit documents.
7. Half of the Rs 9,000 crs of NPAs transferred to the Stressed Asset Stabilisation Fund by IDBI Bank have been settled for an amount 15% higher than the book value. SASF has settled NPAs with book value of Rs 4,410 crs for Rs 5,140 crs and the bad loans still left in its books as unsettled NPAs are chronic ones which would be difficult to resolve.
8. Citibank Singapore is offering a new way for credit-card holders to make payments, using their fingerprints instead of credit cards. It has begun rolling out biometric payment systems in Singapore that allow Citibank Clear Platinum credit card holders to pay using their fingerprints. It’s an investment for its future. This is the first time the bank has used a biometric payment system anywhere in the world.
2. The Union Bank of India’s capital market exposure limit may decline by over Rs 400 crs to about Rs 1,630 crs owing to the RBI’s new draft guidelines on capping bank capital.
3. RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan has said it was possible to bring down interest rates in the medium term provided there is greater price stability.
4. With the advent of corporate giants like Reliance, Godrej Agrovet, Bharti in the agri-sector in Chandigarh, the private sector banks are now concentrating on priority sector lending. They are looking for tie-ups with the corporate giants so that they can lend to the farmers who are into contract farming.
5. Banks will now have to check whether a housing loan is being sought for an authorised structure and seek an undertaking that construction is being done in accordance with the sanctioned building plan. Banks have also been asked to ensure that the sanctioned building plan is attached with such an undertaking. These directives from RBI to banks are a follow-up to an order of the Delhi High Court. Banks are advised to strictly comply with the directions with immediate effect. For a housing loan for purchase of constructed property/built-up property, banks are required to obtain from the applicant a declaration that the built-up property has been constructed in accordance with the sanctioned plan and/or building bye-laws.
6. It has been more than a year since the monsoon floods devastated Mumbai in July 2005, but ICICI Bank is still grappling with the damage left in the aftermath. Documents submitted by many of the bank’s customers for safekeeping were damaged in the floods. These include papers submitted as part of opening savings and current accounts, demat accounts, home loan and auto loan accounts and ICICI Direct online trading accounts. The damage was not restricted only to customers based in Mumbai, for certain types of accounts, it touched even customers from other parts of the country. In fact, it has taken ICICI Bank almost 15 months to identify the customers who need to resubmit documents.
7. Half of the Rs 9,000 crs of NPAs transferred to the Stressed Asset Stabilisation Fund by IDBI Bank have been settled for an amount 15% higher than the book value. SASF has settled NPAs with book value of Rs 4,410 crs for Rs 5,140 crs and the bad loans still left in its books as unsettled NPAs are chronic ones which would be difficult to resolve.
8. Citibank Singapore is offering a new way for credit-card holders to make payments, using their fingerprints instead of credit cards. It has begun rolling out biometric payment systems in Singapore that allow Citibank Clear Platinum credit card holders to pay using their fingerprints. It’s an investment for its future. This is the first time the bank has used a biometric payment system anywhere in the world.
