Tides of 4.07.2015

1.   During June 2015, two important speeches were delivered by Dy.Governors of RBI.

(i)        Financial Education: Basics and Beyond - Keynote Address  delivered by Shri S. S. Mundra, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India at the Conference on Financial Literacy organised by  College of Agricultural Banking at Pune on June 15, 2015
(ii)       Financial Frauds – Prevention: A Question of Knowing Somebody - Speech delivered by Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor at “2nd National Conference on Financial Frauds Risks & Preventions” organized by ASSOCHAM on June 26, 2015 at New Delhi

2.   Liberalized Remittance Scheme: RBI issued circular which state that AD banks may now allow remittances by a resident individual up to USD 250,000 per financial year for any permitted current or capital account transaction or a combination of both vide RBI/2013-14/620 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 106 A.P. (FL Series) dated 1^st June, 2015.

3.   Pre-2005 series bank notes: The Reserve Bank of India has extended the date for the public to exchange their pre-2005 banknotes till December 31, 2015.

4.   CBDT has issued a circular which indicates that henceforth Concurrent Auditors, who are chartered accountants, of branches below the cut-off point will submit LFAR only to the Chairman of the bank. The banks in turn will consolidate/compile all such LFARs submitted by the Concurrent Auditors and submit to Statutory Central Auditor as an internal document of the bank vide RBI/2014-15/626  DBS.CO.ARS.BC.8 /08.91.001/2014-15 dated 4^th June,2015.

5.   SBI hikes its digital focus.
The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), plans to launch 250 InTouch Lite branches as part of an overall digital momentum. InTouch Lite is a lighter version of the bank’s full-sized digital branch with a smaller screen size.

SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said not only was the bank going slow on new branches, but the entire branch network would undergo a transformation.
“So, there will be changes in the branch format. There will be changes in the branch location as well, depending on where the habitation is moving,” she said.

SBI accelerated its digital journey formally from July 2014 by opening InTouch branches, converting the brick and mortar branch into a digital space.
The bank hopes to appeal to country’s youth population with the new digital branches, especially in areas with a high population of young professionals.