1. Mr S.S. Jawahar, launched ‘Canara Gramin Vikas Vahini’ scheme at Thottiyapatti village, 40 km West of Madurai recently, in an effort to take banking services to doorsteps in remote villages, under a nationwide scheme initiated in June. Executed through a van service equipped with public address system, the branch manager travelling in the van has the authority to sanction spot loans for eligible candidates, who could come and collect the amount the next day at a nearest branch.
2. Faced with the possibility of tightening liquidity, a clutch of banks has begun pushing for a rollback of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) hike.The Reserve Bank of India hiked the CRR to 7 per cent from August 6 and mopped up Rs 15,000 crore of liquidity.The CRR hike had come at a time when credit offtake growth had slowed down to 22 per cent, as against the previous year’s 31 per cent.Bankers hope for a reversal in the current situation with better farm sector offtake. However, the fear is that the high CRR would impose a pressure on lending rates. This is partly because CRR balances earn no interest.
3. More than 5,000 bank employees and officers of the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank officers’ Association (AIBOA) would stage dharna before Parliament on August 31 to highlight their charter of demands for banking industry and aam admi.Both AIBEA and AIBOA have launched a national campaign on various policy issues affecting the banking industry.
4. Commercial banks appointed by the RBI to deal in gold are pitching for an inter-bank gold market.“We are seeking some reforms to establish a gold industry for which an application will be made to the RBI in 3-4 weeks”, said Mr Rajan Venkatesh, Chairman of Indian Bullion Bankers’ Association.Although spot trading in the yellow metal is permitted, there is no developed inter-bank market. Regulatory conditions are not conducive for depth in these markets, according to chief of a commercial bank.
5. The proposals of ICICI Bank and State Bank of India to float holding companies for their insurance and asset management business may face regulatory hurdles, going by the Reserve Bank of India’s views expressed in a discussion paper on holding companies released on Monday.According to the discussion paper, the intermediate holding company model (which is being proposed by both the banks) will not come under the RBI’s regulatory supervisions as they are not required to be registered as non-baking finance companies.In the case of ICICI, its application for creating a holding company — ICICI Financial Services — is pending with RBI, though it has already been cleared by IRDA, FIPB, and the Ministry of Finance.
6. The Reserve Bank of India has sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of Lord Krishna Bank Ltd with Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd, said a press release from RBI.The scheme will come into force with effect from August 29. All the branches of Lord Krishna Bank will function as branches of Centurion Bank of Punjab effective August 29.
7. Punjab National Bank is working out a programme to cut its non-performing assets, which is currently among the highest in PSU banks.Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, who took over as Chairman and Managing Director of the bank in June, has given top priority to this programme, which he described as “ NPA administration.” Currently, over 3.81 per cent of the bank’s advances are bad loans or NPAs. Dr Chakrabarty’s aim is to bring it down to below two per cent at the earliest. For the quarter ended June 30, the bank had reported fresh NPAs of Rs 600 crore. This is over and above the Rs 2,000-crore slippage the bank had in the last fiscal. PNB had made Rs 137.87-crore provisions for NPAs in the first quarter.Dr Chakarabarty told Business Line “lots of NPAs were added last year. We have expanded fast but without adequate capacity. From a 15 per cent credit growth suddenly if you grow at 30 per cent, you have to examine the system.
8. Enthused by response to the ‘Corp Compassion’ scheme where the Corporation Bank donates Rs 10 to underprivileged children for every savings account opened, the bank has decided to extend it to Current Accounts opened during the next five weeks starting Monday.
2. Faced with the possibility of tightening liquidity, a clutch of banks has begun pushing for a rollback of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) hike.The Reserve Bank of India hiked the CRR to 7 per cent from August 6 and mopped up Rs 15,000 crore of liquidity.The CRR hike had come at a time when credit offtake growth had slowed down to 22 per cent, as against the previous year’s 31 per cent.Bankers hope for a reversal in the current situation with better farm sector offtake. However, the fear is that the high CRR would impose a pressure on lending rates. This is partly because CRR balances earn no interest.
3. More than 5,000 bank employees and officers of the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank officers’ Association (AIBOA) would stage dharna before Parliament on August 31 to highlight their charter of demands for banking industry and aam admi.Both AIBEA and AIBOA have launched a national campaign on various policy issues affecting the banking industry.
4. Commercial banks appointed by the RBI to deal in gold are pitching for an inter-bank gold market.“We are seeking some reforms to establish a gold industry for which an application will be made to the RBI in 3-4 weeks”, said Mr Rajan Venkatesh, Chairman of Indian Bullion Bankers’ Association.Although spot trading in the yellow metal is permitted, there is no developed inter-bank market. Regulatory conditions are not conducive for depth in these markets, according to chief of a commercial bank.
5. The proposals of ICICI Bank and State Bank of India to float holding companies for their insurance and asset management business may face regulatory hurdles, going by the Reserve Bank of India’s views expressed in a discussion paper on holding companies released on Monday.According to the discussion paper, the intermediate holding company model (which is being proposed by both the banks) will not come under the RBI’s regulatory supervisions as they are not required to be registered as non-baking finance companies.In the case of ICICI, its application for creating a holding company — ICICI Financial Services — is pending with RBI, though it has already been cleared by IRDA, FIPB, and the Ministry of Finance.
6. The Reserve Bank of India has sanctioned the scheme of amalgamation of Lord Krishna Bank Ltd with Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd, said a press release from RBI.The scheme will come into force with effect from August 29. All the branches of Lord Krishna Bank will function as branches of Centurion Bank of Punjab effective August 29.
7. Punjab National Bank is working out a programme to cut its non-performing assets, which is currently among the highest in PSU banks.Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, who took over as Chairman and Managing Director of the bank in June, has given top priority to this programme, which he described as “ NPA administration.” Currently, over 3.81 per cent of the bank’s advances are bad loans or NPAs. Dr Chakrabarty’s aim is to bring it down to below two per cent at the earliest. For the quarter ended June 30, the bank had reported fresh NPAs of Rs 600 crore. This is over and above the Rs 2,000-crore slippage the bank had in the last fiscal. PNB had made Rs 137.87-crore provisions for NPAs in the first quarter.Dr Chakarabarty told Business Line “lots of NPAs were added last year. We have expanded fast but without adequate capacity. From a 15 per cent credit growth suddenly if you grow at 30 per cent, you have to examine the system.
8. Enthused by response to the ‘Corp Compassion’ scheme where the Corporation Bank donates Rs 10 to underprivileged children for every savings account opened, the bank has decided to extend it to Current Accounts opened during the next five weeks starting Monday.
