18 jan 2003

rbi finetunes forex norms for life firms
mumbai: the reserve bank of india on friday announced modifications to the foreign exchange management (insurance) regulations (2000)-life insurance
memorandum dated may 3, 2000, to cover new private sector life insurance companies that came into being after opening it up for private sector.

citi sets up e-platform for hr functions
mumbai: cititbank india's human resources department (hrd) has developed an electronic platform that will allow it to move regular hr functions online so that it can concentrate on the other, more important issues such as training processes and staffing requirements.

aviva life ups capital base to rs 155 crore
mumbai: aviva life insurance has increased its capital base by rs 45 crore, taking the total paid-up capital to rs 155 crore. the joint venture partners, dabur and aviva, have together contributed to the additional capital, chief executive officer stuart purdy said.

sidbi teams up with us fund for $40-m vcf
mumbai: small industries development bank of india has signed an mou with washington-based small enterprises assistance fund to set up a $40m venture capital fund exclusively for small enterprises.

rbi asks banks to act on internal controls, mis
mumbai: the reserve bank of india on friday asked commercial banks to take immediate steps to implement the recommendations of the advisory group on banking supervision it set up under the chairmanship of ms verma pertaining to strengthening mis and internal control mechanisms.

icici bank cuts home loan rates
mumbai: icici bank has cut interest rates on housing loans by 50 basis points, effective january 17. by bringing the interest rates on the fixed rate home loans at par with the current adjustable rates, the bank will be able to attract new segments of customers.

federal bank q3 profit at rs 82 cr
kochi: at the end of the third quarter, the aluva-based federal bank has notched up a cumulative net profit of rs 82.46 crore, registering an increase of 28 per cent over the corresponding period of last year.

j&k bank offers up to 15 per cent equity for sale
new delhi: jammu & kashmir bank ltd. has decided to go slow on its proposal to set up an asset management company and would focus on its insurance business to swell it non-interest income in near term.

sidbi to run $40-m support fund for small enterprises
mumbai: the small industries development bank of india (sidbi) will shortly operationalise a $40 million support fund for small enterprises, according to p.b. nimbalkar, chairman, sidbi.

psb sends notice to 301 defaulters
new delhi: punjab and sind bank (psb) has issued notices to 301 defaulters involving an amount of rs 167 crore under the securitisation and reconstruction of financial assets and enforcement of security interest bill, 2002.

andhra bank to securitise home loans, return capital
hyderabad: andhra bank intends to raise rs 200 crore from the market by securitising a part of its housing loan portfolio.

17 jan 2003

uti bank q3 net up 44 per cent
mumbai: uti bank on thursday announced a 44 per cent jump in net profit to rs 51.50 crore for the third quarter-ended december 31, 2002 as compared to
rs 35.76 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.

rbi notifies norms for pds trading g-secs on bourses
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has notified operational guidelines for primary dealers for trading in government securities on the stock exchanges.

icra unveils svg rating for corporates
new delhi: credit rating agency icra limited has launched the first ever combined rating of stakeholder value creation and governance practices for companies in india. godrej consumer products ltd is the first company to be given such a rating.

hdfc standard life expects to cross rs 100-crore mark this fiscal
mumbai: hdfc standard life insurance is expecting to cross the rs 100-crore premium business mark during the current fiscal. the country’s first private life insurance company has made business of rs 36 crore in 2001-02.

gtb proposes pref/rights issue
hyderabad: global trust bank ltd (gtb) is planning to raise further capital under tier-i category to strengthen its capital to risk assets ratio (crar) and, in turn, for future growth.

oh debt, where is thy sting...
mumbai: the country's external debt has topped the $100-billion mark and as of end-june 2002 stands at $ 101.3 billion, a rise of $ 3.1 billion or 3.2 per cent over $ 98.2 billion at end-march 2002.

icici info solution for lakshmi vilas
bangalore: icici infotech announced that lakshmi vilas bank has chosen its core banking solution, newton, to be deployed across all branches.

lvb cuts rate for deposits
bangalore: lakshmi vilas bank has slashed the interest rate both for domestic and nre deposits by 0.25 per cent for periods above 271 and 364 days maturity slab. the change has been effected from january 16.

icici bank opens atms with telugu facility
mumbai: icici bank has announced the launch of telugu language automated teller machines (atms) here on thursday. with this, the icici bank customers in andhra pradesh would have the option of three languages for doing atm transactions, telugu, hindi and english.

16 jan 2003

hdfc bank net up 31 per cent on higher treasury gains
mumbai: buoyed by treasury profits, hdfc bank recorded a 31% growth in net profit to rs 98.9 crore during the third quarter ended december 30, '02 against rs 75.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

idbi bank to raise rs 40 crore tier-ii funds
mumbai: idbi bank’s board of directors on wednesday gave an in-principle nod for a rs 40 crore tier-ii capital issue. fe had reported on december 31 that idbi bank may look at raising tier-ii capital as a stop-gap measure to overcome its immediate capital adequacy requirements.

reserve bank to hold rs 11,000-crore omo today
mumbai: the reserve bank of india will conduct open market operations on thursday, to suck out rs 11,000 crore from the inter-bank system.

central bank cuts deposit rates by 25 bps
mumbai: state-run central bank of india has lowered its term deposit rates by 25 basis points for select slabs with effect from january 15.

union bank of india net rises 45 per cent to rs 144 crore
mumbai: union bank of india has posted a 45 per cent rise in its net profit for the quarter-ended dec 2002 at rs 143.58 crore. it has reported a total income of rs 1,281.33 crore, which is up 9.06 per cent when compared to that of the same quarter previous year.

15 jan 2003

home loans drive idbi bank’s retail assets to rs 1,038 crore
mumbai: idbi bank on tuesday announced that its retail portfolio had crossed the rs 1,000-crore mark to touch rs 1,038 crore as on december 31, 2002, up from rs 408 crore as on march 2002.

union bank seizes defaulters’ assets
mumbai: union bank of india will take over six properties in chennai by the end of this month under the securitisation and reconstruction of financial assets and enforcement of security interest ordinance 2002.

idbi slashes rates for flexibond-17
mumbai: industrial development bank of india has slashed the deposit rates on its flexibond-17 offering, to be kicked off next monday (january 20), by 75 to 100 basis points, when compared to its previous issue flexibonds-16.

rbi notification on nedungadi merger this month
mumbai: the reserve bank of india is expected to notify the amalgamation of sick private sector nedungadi bank with punjab national bank by the end of this month.

phf leasing fd issue downgraded
new delhi: icra has downgraded the rating assigned to the fixed deposit programme of phf leasing ltd (pfhl) from `ma-' to `mb+', indicating inadequate safety.

birla sun life adds `waiver of premium' rider
mumbai: birla sun life insurance has launched a `waiver of premium' rider, which covers critical illness as well as total permanent disability. the rider benefits will be available even when the customer suffers from an accident and is totally and permanently disabled, said a press release.

43 per cent priority sector lending target achieved
kochi: the commercial banks in kerala have disbursed rs 3,823 crore to the priority sector during the half year ended september 2002, which represented 43 per cent of the target of rs 8,912 crore set for the whole year ending march 31, 2003.

sbi plans integration across group banks
mumbai: state bank of india is planning what could perhaps be termed as a "quasi group merger" beginning with credit and treasury integration across its seven associates. the rs 3,80,000-crore sbi, and its group entities would unify several business processes, including various treasury functions and high-value credit appraisal, sanction and disbursement, top bank officers said.

14 jan 2003

citibank payment services stuck with it non-compliant partners
mumbai: citibank, the largest issuer of credit cards in india, is finding itself walled in by technically-backward prospective partners in trying to give value-added services to its card holders.

dena bank issues notices to recover rs 316 crore
mumbai: the mumbai-based dena bank groaning under stressed assets has issued 190 notices to defaulters involving rs 316 crore.

global trust mulls equity capital issue
hyderabad: global trust bank ltd is looking at raising tier-1 capital and proposes to appoint merchant bankers for the same.

aig keen on hiking stake in tata-aig to 49 per cent
mumbai: the us-based american international group, the largest international insurance company, is keen to increase its stake to 49 per cent from 26 per cent in tata aig life insurance, as soon as the necessary regulatory clearance is available.

icici-lombard bags ppn deal
kochi: icici-lombard general insurance company ltd has opened the year with a bang and taken the pillai perumal nallur (ppn) power project insurance cover away from the public sector insurers.

indusind gets nod for offices abroad
mumbai: indusind bank has received the rbi permission to set up its first overseas representative offices in dubai and london.

j&k bank 9-month net up
new delhi: the jammu and kashmir bank ltd (j&k bank) has recorded a net profit of rs 236.18 crore for the nine-month ended december 31, 2002, a 35 per cent jump over the net of rs 174.79 crore during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

dena bank unveils debit card
mumbai: dena bank has announced the launch of dena international debit card in association with visa electron.

central bank cuts deposit rates
mumbai: central bank of india has reduced its term deposit rates by 25 basis points for select slabs effective january 15. for deposits with tenors between 91 days and 179 days, the interest rate has been cut to 5.25 per cent (5.50 per cent).

oriental bank trims deposit rates
new delhi: oriental bank of commerce (obc) has announced reduction of domestic term deposit rates from january 13. the rate for deposits for a period of one-year to less than 2 years has been reduced by 50 basis points to 5.75 per cent.

tata aig launches pension plan
mumbai: tata aig life insurance co ltd yesterday launched `nirvana', a pension plan for individuals. with a minimum cover of rs 50,000, this policy is available for anyone between 18 and 55 years of age with the flexibility to retire between 50 and 65 years.

gtb's `videsh mudra'
hyderabad: global trust bank has announced the launch of `videsh mudra' enabling the resident indians to retain the foreign exchange acquired by them in a current account with the bank.

corporation bank, dena to share atm networks
new delhi: corporation bank and dena bank have decided to share their atm networks to bring the combined strength of atms to 600 by march. at present, corporation bank has a tie-up with karnataka bank and the delhi-based oriental bank of commerce for atm sharing.

union bank to market insurance products
new delhi: the union bank of india has finalised plans to market general insurance products from the end of this month. the bank would join hands with new india assurance for the distribution of general insurance products.

13 jan 2003

curb expenses, says irda
new delhi: in an interesting development, the insurance regulatory and development authority (irda) has directed all the four public sector non-life insurance companies - new india assurance, oriental insurance, united india insurance and national insurance to bring down the level of their management expenses.

traders park funds in long-dated securities
mumbai: bond markets remained steady during the week as traders preferred to book profits. the undertone, however, remained firm. the ten-year yield to maturity remained at 6.03 per cent, down slightly from the previous week's 6.04 per cent.

canara bank cuts deposit rates
mumbai: canara bank has announced a cut in its domestic term deposit rates for the period of one-year and more by 25 basis points ( 0.25 percentage points) with effect from january 13.

idbi bank offers cms with more capabilities
mumbai: idbi bank has announced the launch of the `disbursement module' of its `cash management services', which, according to the bank, offers additional features to its corporate customers.

sbi makes loans cheaper for judges, cops & teachers
mumbai: judges, cops and teachers can now get cheaper loans with banks spinning out new products to cash in on the great retail rush.

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