1.In a bid to contain possible asset-liability mismatches, public sector banks have begun capping their bulk deposit acceptances. Bankers said that there was no Reserve Bank of
2. RBI has instructed banks to furnish data on frauds, thefts and burglaries on a quarterly basis to the regional offices of the Urban Banks Department. Cases of online fraud and identity theft (also known broadly as phishing) come under the purview of this notification. The premier bank’s recent directive is a follow-up to its master circular on “Frauds - Classification and Reporting” for Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks, issued in 2003. There are more than seven million phishing attempts every day, according to security company Symantec, of which 84% are targeted at banks and financial institutions. In recent years, HDFC Bank, ICICI, SBI and more recently UTI Bank have been the target of phishing attacks. Phishing is a form of online identity theft where consumers’ personal identity data and financial account credentials are stolen by third parties. Phishing involves sending “spoofed” e-mails that direct consumers to websites designed to trick them into entering sensitive information such as usernames and passwords.
3. The top management at Dhanalakshmi Bank is working overnight to chalk out a recast plan. A committee to explore various options to boost the bank’s net worth to Rs 300 crs from the existing Rs 125 crs has been formed. Sources indicate that the bank was looking at raising around Rs 150 crs through a combination of rights issue and allotment to qualified institutional buyers. The bank is in talks with AIG Private Equity. Mr P Raja Mohan Rao, a businessman from Andhra Pradesh, is the largest shareholder in Dhanalakshmi Bank with 36.39% stake.
4. The possibility of merger of SBI with its associate banks is unlikely to happen in the near future. The prospect of consolidation is getting brighter, but it is unlikely happen in near future. Before the merger so many statutory things including due delligence will have to be undertaken. Nothing is going to happen before 18-24 months.
5. Catholic Syrian Bank’s capital raising plans appear to have hit a roadblock. RBI is not willing to clear the bank’s proposal to make preferential allotment of about 15% stake in the bank to Asian private equity firm, AIF Capital Development. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared the proposal but the RBI guidelines restrict any single private equity firm’s holding in a private sector bank to 5%.
6. UTI Bank, a strong mid-sized private bank, today said it expects its loan portfolio to grow 30-40% in 2007-08 and it might raise Rs. 554 mn during April-September. After strengthening core banking business, the bank will enter insurance and other financial services in a couple of years. It is also on an expansion drive overseas and will concentrate on the
6. The Karur Vysya Bank Limited, a leading private bank, has achieved Rs 1,078 crs in net-owned funds. Talking to Business Standard, P T Kuppuswamy, chairman of the bank, said with the allotment of rights issues completed on February 24, 2007, the bank has become the first private sector bank in Tamil Nadu, and the third in the country, after Federal Bank and Karnataka Bank, to achieve the landmark Rs 1,000 crs target. The aggregate business of the bank has already touched Rs 16,700 crs by January-end. He was hopeful that the bank would have Rs 17,000 to Rs 17,500 crs of total business by the end of this fiscal. The bank was able to surpass the target for the current year, which was Rs 15,753 crs, as it could garnered substantial business volumes in the northern and western regions of the country, where the bank had opened 20 new branches this fiscal. It opened 26 new branches across the country this fiscal. 266th branch of KVB, its 27th branch this fiscal, was opened at K K Nagar in Trichy. Before the end of March this year, the total number of its branches would touch 270.
