1. Catholic Syrian Bank has become a member of the National Financial Switch (NFS).The NFS comprises a national switch to facilitate inter-connectivity between the banks' switches, inter-bank payment gateway for authentication and routing of payment details of various e-commerce transactions and e-government activities, according to a company release. The NFS Network now connects 8,345 ATMs, which is the largest number of ATMs under a single network in the country. This initiative will facilitate CSB customers to utilise all the ATMs belonging to 24 major banks coming under NFS at moderate charges. VISA-enabled global support cardholders can withdraw cash from more than one million ATMs and shop at 24 million merchant establishments worldwide. CSB Global Support Card holders can make card-to-card money transfer utilising CSB ATMs.
2. Representatives of bank trade unions would be meeting the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, with their demands for filling up the close to one lakh vacant posts in various banks and stopping the outsourcing of work. The trade union leaders would also discuss with the Finance Minister the possibility of providing a second retirement benefit for the employees who want to opt for the pension scheme. The meeting with Finance Minister has been fixed after the labour leaders met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to press for their demands. The discussions assume significance in view of the proposed three-day all India bank strike beginning from March 28 and coinciding with the closing of the financial year 2006-07.
3. Indbank, a subsidiary of Indian Bank engaged in merchant banking services, will be opening 10 branches across the country in 2007-08. The proposed new offices will be coming up in Hyderabad, Puducherry, Baroda, Kolkata, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Pune, Jaipur, Indore and Kochi. There are also plans to put up broking terminals at select branches for increasing the reach and operations.
4. Syndicate Bank intends to recruit between 1,500 and 2,000 agents to mobilise `pigmy deposits',a scheme under which agents go to customers' houses, as frequently as required, and collect deposits. At present, the bank has about 3,000 agents. The agents are paid a monthly salary of Rs 750 plus a performance-based incentive. The pigmy deposit scheme is an 80-year-old product, but is now being "re-launched" so as to re-invigorate the scheme. At present, Syndicate Bank has about Rs 1,000 crs of deposits under the scheme. It was a scheme aimed at financial inclusion, designed long before financial inclusion became a buzzword in the banking industry.
5. The 475th branch of UTI Bank was opened at Trichy Road in Coimbatore city. Four more branches have been proposed for Coimbatore and these would become operational within the next year.
6. The biggest problem with rural Bank branches is the uncertainty of power availability. Vijaya Bank is trying to solve this problem using solar power systems. Again, the bank has installed solar power systems (provided by Tata BP Solar Ltd) in 60 of its rural branches and "they are working extremely well". These systems cost only about Rs 5 lakh. With VSATs (of Hughes), the rural branches are also to be linked to the central server. All core banking facilities could be offered. Meanwhile, Vijaya Bank is talking to arrangers for raising capital. Its capital adequacy ratio is about 11.5%, and the bank intends to raise hybrid capital of around Rs 1,400 crs.
7. If banks want to sell third-party financial products (mutual funds, insurance) to its customers, its staff should be free enough to do that, right? How can a teller, for example, sell a mutual fund if he has to count a bunch of notes three times before giving it to a customer? Sensing a business opportunity here, CashLink Global Systems Pvt Ltd (CGS), the Hardware & Services arm of HMA Group, in partnership with De La Rue (world's leading currency printing and cash & secure transaction group) has introduced machines known as `Teller Cash Dispensers' in India. These dispensers cost about Rs 7 lakh a piece. The company expects prices to come down once banks start placing bulk orders. These cash dispensers help improve efficiency and boost productivity and make a teller an "investment consultant". "Tellers can now be empowered to play a vital role in marketing banking products and services, strengthen customer relationship and hence build a better brand rather than spending their time in mundane tasks of counting, verifying, storing and managing currency,". While on the security front, it reduces fraud and robbery, on the cost front, it reduces operating costs by increasing the speed and volume of transactions per teller.The product literature says that the machines can count up to 15 notes per second, "faster than the fastest ATM in the world". The software can work with any other software of the bank. The machines do not demand ATM-quality notes. Two tellers can share one machine. Currency notes can be loaded in cassettes that can be secured with an electronic key.
8. Bank of Baroda has declared an interim dividend of 30%, which comes to Rs 3 per share for 2006-07.
9. Bankers will be going on a three-day unpaid vacation from March 28 with 27 PSBs, including the country's largest bank, SBI, and many old private sector banks going on an all-India strike. If the bank holidays on March 27 and 31 are taken, it could be a five-day vacation for bankers while their customers will be left to curse their luck. Clearing operations will be impacted for around nine days from March 23 to April 1 due to the strike. The ATMs will be open but after one or two days cash will be exhausted. The main issues are job outsourcing, suspension of compassionate appointments and the choice of pension not being given to existing bank employees. Banking and treasury operations will be severely affected during the period.
2. Representatives of bank trade unions would be meeting the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, with their demands for filling up the close to one lakh vacant posts in various banks and stopping the outsourcing of work. The trade union leaders would also discuss with the Finance Minister the possibility of providing a second retirement benefit for the employees who want to opt for the pension scheme. The meeting with Finance Minister has been fixed after the labour leaders met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to press for their demands. The discussions assume significance in view of the proposed three-day all India bank strike beginning from March 28 and coinciding with the closing of the financial year 2006-07.
3. Indbank, a subsidiary of Indian Bank engaged in merchant banking services, will be opening 10 branches across the country in 2007-08. The proposed new offices will be coming up in Hyderabad, Puducherry, Baroda, Kolkata, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Pune, Jaipur, Indore and Kochi. There are also plans to put up broking terminals at select branches for increasing the reach and operations.
4. Syndicate Bank intends to recruit between 1,500 and 2,000 agents to mobilise `pigmy deposits',a scheme under which agents go to customers' houses, as frequently as required, and collect deposits. At present, the bank has about 3,000 agents. The agents are paid a monthly salary of Rs 750 plus a performance-based incentive. The pigmy deposit scheme is an 80-year-old product, but is now being "re-launched" so as to re-invigorate the scheme. At present, Syndicate Bank has about Rs 1,000 crs of deposits under the scheme. It was a scheme aimed at financial inclusion, designed long before financial inclusion became a buzzword in the banking industry.
5. The 475th branch of UTI Bank was opened at Trichy Road in Coimbatore city. Four more branches have been proposed for Coimbatore and these would become operational within the next year.
6. The biggest problem with rural Bank branches is the uncertainty of power availability. Vijaya Bank is trying to solve this problem using solar power systems. Again, the bank has installed solar power systems (provided by Tata BP Solar Ltd) in 60 of its rural branches and "they are working extremely well". These systems cost only about Rs 5 lakh. With VSATs (of Hughes), the rural branches are also to be linked to the central server. All core banking facilities could be offered. Meanwhile, Vijaya Bank is talking to arrangers for raising capital. Its capital adequacy ratio is about 11.5%, and the bank intends to raise hybrid capital of around Rs 1,400 crs.
7. If banks want to sell third-party financial products (mutual funds, insurance) to its customers, its staff should be free enough to do that, right? How can a teller, for example, sell a mutual fund if he has to count a bunch of notes three times before giving it to a customer? Sensing a business opportunity here, CashLink Global Systems Pvt Ltd (CGS), the Hardware & Services arm of HMA Group, in partnership with De La Rue (world's leading currency printing and cash & secure transaction group) has introduced machines known as `Teller Cash Dispensers' in India. These dispensers cost about Rs 7 lakh a piece. The company expects prices to come down once banks start placing bulk orders. These cash dispensers help improve efficiency and boost productivity and make a teller an "investment consultant". "Tellers can now be empowered to play a vital role in marketing banking products and services, strengthen customer relationship and hence build a better brand rather than spending their time in mundane tasks of counting, verifying, storing and managing currency,". While on the security front, it reduces fraud and robbery, on the cost front, it reduces operating costs by increasing the speed and volume of transactions per teller.The product literature says that the machines can count up to 15 notes per second, "faster than the fastest ATM in the world". The software can work with any other software of the bank. The machines do not demand ATM-quality notes. Two tellers can share one machine. Currency notes can be loaded in cassettes that can be secured with an electronic key.
8. Bank of Baroda has declared an interim dividend of 30%, which comes to Rs 3 per share for 2006-07.
9. Bankers will be going on a three-day unpaid vacation from March 28 with 27 PSBs, including the country's largest bank, SBI, and many old private sector banks going on an all-India strike. If the bank holidays on March 27 and 31 are taken, it could be a five-day vacation for bankers while their customers will be left to curse their luck. Clearing operations will be impacted for around nine days from March 23 to April 1 due to the strike. The ATMs will be open but after one or two days cash will be exhausted. The main issues are job outsourcing, suspension of compassionate appointments and the choice of pension not being given to existing bank employees. Banking and treasury operations will be severely affected during the period.
