1. UCO Bank is to have a new Chairman and Managing Director in Mr Allen C.A. Periera, who is now Executive Director, Oriental Bank of Commerce. Mr Periera would come in the place of the incumbent CMD , Mr V. Sridar, who is to superannuate in July.
2. Solar energy has caught the fancy of banks as an area to enhance their loan portfolio. With the government encouraging banks to offer loans for solar energy systems counting this as priority lending in an effort to popularise renewable energy products, the demand for loans for solar energy products has increased considerably. Canara Bank was one of the pioneering banks to participate in the Solar Water Heating Programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. About 10 PSBs, four non-banking financial corporations, two private banks and 10 scheduled co-op banks participate in this programme.
3. Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC), Citi Group Inc, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and Blackstone Group have come together to launch `the India infrastructure financing initiative.' This is a collaborative effort to deploy about $5 billion in capital for infrastructure projects within the country. The plan is to deploy about $2 bn in equity capital and $3 bn in long term debt financing with maturities exceeding 10 years. The equity-financing programme would be managed by IDFC and would invest in green field and brown field operating projects primarily in roads, power, airports, ports and industrial and commercial infrastructure. IDFC, Citi and Blackstone would together invest $250 mn, while the balance is to come from reputable international investors as well as selected domestic institutional investors, including IIFCL. The debt financing would be channelled through IIFCL in several tranches over the next three years for projects appraised by IDFC and also certain banks/financial intermediaries.
4. ICICI Bank is to raise interest rates on home loans for new customers. It may also look at increasing deposit rates in the wake of some liquidity tightening by the RBI in the form of CRR hike. It expected the incremental credit disbursals of the bank to grow by at least 20%. He also said that the fee-based incomes of the bank would continue to be strong.
5. HDFC Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with an Italian bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, to offer banking services to each other's corporate customers engaged in business activity in their respective countries. The two banks will assist their customers on commercial (imports and exports, including shipment services, payment orders, among others) and financial transactions (investment activities, foreign direct investments, pre-export financing and trade financing) between Italy and India. The services will include remittances and bank guarantees.
6. The Corporation Bank Officers' Organisation conducted a symposium on `Whither reforms in banking?' in Mangalore on February 17. The symposium included an interactive session with the members of the Independent Commission on Banking and Financial Policy (ICBFP).
2. Solar energy has caught the fancy of banks as an area to enhance their loan portfolio. With the government encouraging banks to offer loans for solar energy systems counting this as priority lending in an effort to popularise renewable energy products, the demand for loans for solar energy products has increased considerably. Canara Bank was one of the pioneering banks to participate in the Solar Water Heating Programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. About 10 PSBs, four non-banking financial corporations, two private banks and 10 scheduled co-op banks participate in this programme.
3. Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC), Citi Group Inc, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and Blackstone Group have come together to launch `the India infrastructure financing initiative.' This is a collaborative effort to deploy about $5 billion in capital for infrastructure projects within the country. The plan is to deploy about $2 bn in equity capital and $3 bn in long term debt financing with maturities exceeding 10 years. The equity-financing programme would be managed by IDFC and would invest in green field and brown field operating projects primarily in roads, power, airports, ports and industrial and commercial infrastructure. IDFC, Citi and Blackstone would together invest $250 mn, while the balance is to come from reputable international investors as well as selected domestic institutional investors, including IIFCL. The debt financing would be channelled through IIFCL in several tranches over the next three years for projects appraised by IDFC and also certain banks/financial intermediaries.
4. ICICI Bank is to raise interest rates on home loans for new customers. It may also look at increasing deposit rates in the wake of some liquidity tightening by the RBI in the form of CRR hike. It expected the incremental credit disbursals of the bank to grow by at least 20%. He also said that the fee-based incomes of the bank would continue to be strong.
5. HDFC Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with an Italian bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, to offer banking services to each other's corporate customers engaged in business activity in their respective countries. The two banks will assist their customers on commercial (imports and exports, including shipment services, payment orders, among others) and financial transactions (investment activities, foreign direct investments, pre-export financing and trade financing) between Italy and India. The services will include remittances and bank guarantees.
6. The Corporation Bank Officers' Organisation conducted a symposium on `Whither reforms in banking?' in Mangalore on February 17. The symposium included an interactive session with the members of the Independent Commission on Banking and Financial Policy (ICBFP).
