1. To prepare the organisation for the next 10 years, it is essential for Union Bank of India to prepare its people first, according to its Chairman. In this regard, the bank has come out with a unique model, where it picked up 30 officials in the age group of 30 to 40 years for a year-long training at its training college in Bangalore. “It is like a capsule MBA programme. Thirty of them were given 15 projects. These projects are those which the bank wants to implement in future. They work on these projects. I personally monitor them,” he said, adding that these officers also come up with very good ideas in their projects.Now the second batch is under going training. Every year, it will train 30 such officers.
2. After having scored a first with its Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue, Bank of India (BoI) is looking to expand into allied businesses such as mutual funds and wealth management. The bank is also considering acquiring a small overseas bank if the price is reasonable, said Mr T.S. Narayanasami, Chairman and Managing Director. In January, the Finance Minister had asked nationalised banks to look into various options, including QIP, to raise tier-I capital to meet the Basel-II norms, which would be implemented from April for banks having overseas branches. Syndicate Bank and UCO Bank are other public sector banks that might be considering raising capital through the QIP route instead of a follow-on public offer.
3. South Indian Bank ltd has formulated a plan for the next five years and is awaiting the board’s approval. It would increase its business three-fold by March 2013, from the current level of Rs 24,500 crore. It also plans to add 250 branches during that period, taking the total branch strength to 750, and increase its ATM network to 500 from the current 202.
4. The awareness about insurance is quite high in India. Around 78 per cent of households are aware of insurance products. However, ownership of insurance products is low — only 24 per cent households in the country own a life insurance cover”, the survey by Max New York Life-NCAER on `How India Earns, Spends and Saves’ said. The survey, which is based on figures for 2004-05, pointed out that bulk of the urban households (90 per cent) are aware of the life insurance policies and their benefits.
5. Kotak Life Insurance (KLI) will open 100 more branches on a pan-India basis, taking the total network of branches to 210 by March 2009. Of this, 40 branches would come up in the current financial year itself, said Shekhar Bhandari, senior vice-president (sales). The company has adopted a state-wise business development strategy on the basis of business potential in various states and selected 5 states for the purpose.
6. India's foreign-exchange reserves rose $4.36 billion to a record $292.7 billion in the week ended February 1, the central bank said. Foreign-currency assets increased by $3.5 billion to $283 billion, the Reserve Bank of India said in an e-mailed release in Mumbai. The nation’s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund were held at $9 million. Its reserves with the IMF fell by $11 million to $423 million, while gold reserves rose $871 million to $9.2 billion. The reserves comprise overseas currencies, gold and special drawing rights with the IMF.
7. ICICI Bank is still awaiting Reserve Bank of India’s final norms on bank holding companies.
8. In a bid to establish a toehold in the overseas market, the Oriental Bank of Commerce is planning to set up a representative office in the UAE in the next six months. It has already got RBI approval and is seeking regulatory permission from the UAE authorities for opening an office in Dubai.
9. State Bank of Travancore, an associate of India's largest public lender SBI, will open its representative office in Dubai to provide services to NRIs in the UAE. SBT has already got the approval of UAE Central Bank for the move and is expected to open the representative office in two months, SBT General Manager (international banking) A K Basu said.
10. The Delhi Consumer Commission today imposed a Rs 10-lakh fine on ICICI Bank for refusing credit card to a lawyer for a "negative profile" profession. However, the bank refuted the charge that it was not giving credit cards to advocates and said it would appeal against order before an appropriate forum. The Commission asked the bank to deposit Rs 10 lakh in the State Consumer Welfare Fund, and pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to the complainant.
