1. Corporation Bank has brought all its branches under the core banking solution (CBS). Corporation Bank is the first public sector bank to bring the entire bank under CBS. Simultaneously, the bank also launched `SMS Banking Service'. A new `talking-biometric ATM' was opened. Smart cards were issued to select customers.
2. Bank of India has registered a 76 % growth in net profit at Rs 447 crs for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, against Rs 254 crs in the previous year. The net profit grew by 60% at Rs 1,123 crs (Rs 701 crs) for the year ended March 31, 2007. Net interest income rose in the fourth quarter to Rs 968 crs against Rs 838 crs in the previous year. Other income rose to Rs 576 crs against Rs 324 crs in the year-ago period.
3. A 34% increase in gross credit, aided by a higher net interest margin, saw Indian Overseas Bank post its highest-ever net profit of Rs 1,008 crs for 2006-07, also the first time across the Rs 1,000-crs mark. Yet, the little bit that helped the bank cross the mark came from a Rs 50-crore net profit from the erstwhile Bharat Overseas Bank, since merged with IOB. After coming under IOB's control last year, BhOB's performance soared close to ten times, its net profit in the previous year was Rs 5.5 crs. This was due to buoyant recoveries. The bank's board has recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per share (30%).
4. Strong growth in net interest income and operating profits helped Indian Bank post a 69.09 % rise in net profit at Rs 235.31 crs in the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2007 against Rs 139.16 crs in the corresponding quarter the previous year. In 2006-07, the net profit grew by 50.6 % to Rs 759.77 crs against over Rs 504.48 crs last year. Total income increased to Rs 1563.61 crs (Rs 1092 crs) and operating profits to Rs 541.6 crs (Rs 333 crs). Total income for the year has crossed the Rs 5,000 crs mark and rose to Rs 5,017.86 crs, registering a growth of 31.09%.
5. The net profit of South Indian Bank has gone up by 105 % to Rs 104.12 crs (Rs 50.90 crs) for the year 2005-06. The board of directors has recommended a dividend of 25%, up from 18% of last year. The net NPA to net advances plunged to 0.98%, down from 1.86% of last year. The total business touched Rs 20,549 crs (Rs 16,324 crs). Of this, Rs 12,239 crs (Rs 9,579 crs) came as deposits and Rs 8,308 (Rs 6,745 crs) as advances.
6. Bank of Baroda has opened Gen-Next, its first youth-oriented, branch in the country. Based on this pilot, the model will be taken to other cities. The youth preferred to bank with private sector banks because of the technological advantage. The new bank was more of a "concept than a branch, and aimed at stemming the exodus of youth to private banks." Apart from regular banking services, Gen-Next has a special area called the Yo! Zone where customers can watch their favourite movies, sports or video channels. A reading lounge has also been created where customers can browse through books and magazines, and also surf the Net. The bank has launched four new products for the youth segment - Gen-Next Lifestyle, Gen-Next Power, Gen-Next Suvidha and Gen-Next Junior - which will be available only at these branches.
7. The Bank of India Chairman, Mr M. Balachandran, has stressed the need for scaling up operations in banks. He said, "Large size is essential for cost-effective operations, for capital augmentation and for competing on a global platform." "This can happen through organic growth and the inorganic route. In the former, banks cannot take it beyond 20% per annum, but in the latter, which obviously can happen only through mergers and acquisitions, there has to be synergy between the entities that come together."
8. Central Bank of India plans to hit the domestic capital market with an initial public offering by June this year. The bank will issue 80 million shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. The Government holding after the IPO will come down to about 80 % from 100%. The lead bank managers for the issue will be ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital Market Services and Enam Securities among others. Premium will be decided by lead bank managers. The bank will soon file its red herring prospectus with the SEBI. The bank has posted a 93.77% growth in net profit to Rs 498 crs for the year ended March 31, 2007 against Rs 257 crs for the corresponding period last year. The bank has recorded a 28.94% growth in total business as on March 31, 2007 from Rs 1,05,678 crs last year to Rs 1,36,265 crs.
