IBA firm on 12.25% wage hike
Mumbai: The Indian Banks’ Association is firm that it will stick to the offer of a 12.25 per cent (all-inclusive) increase in wages to bank employees. The IBA has also ruled out any possibility of banks raising their contribution to the provident fund from 10 per cent to 12 per cent of the pay.

Bank unions and the IBA had been negotiating the wage revision for almost a year before both sides arrived at a settlement, with the unions climbing down from their demand of a 25 per cent increase to a 12.25 per cent increase effective 1 November 1997. The IBA feels that since the banking industry is already overstaffed, a wage freeze would have been a mature and ideal consensus to go by till the problems are over.
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Brokerage in insurance to be allowed
New Delhi: The government intends to allow insurance brokers, including foreign brokerage firms, to operate in India. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India is understood to have prepared draft regulations for this purpose, which are being circulated among related departments for a wider debate.
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IDBI told to divest Sidbi holding
Mumbai The finance ministry has advised the Industrial Development Bank of India to divest its 51 per cent holding in the Small Industrial Development Bank of India in favour of insurance companies and public sector banks. The divestment will fetch IDBI  nearly Rs 1,300 crore. The cabinet has decided to amend the SIDBI Act of 1989 to delink the organisation from IDBI. The ministry has also said IDBI’s stake in state financial corporations will be transferred to Sidbi.
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Japan indicts Credit Suisse arm
Tokyo: Japanese prosecutors say they have severely indicted the London headquarters of Credit Suisse Financial Products for violation of Japanese banking laws. The prosecutors have also indicted Shini Yamada, former head of the bank’s Tokyo branch, who was arrested on suspicion of obstructing an inspection by the Financial Supervisory Agency, the Japanese regulator. The prosecutors said Mr Yamada had conspired with two other unidentified employees to hide documents in a room, the existence of which they concealed from authorities.

Credit Suisse Financial Products had its banking licence revoked in July 1999 for offering inappropriate products to clients and obstructing official investigations.
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Sumitomo-Sakura merger
Tokyo: Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank said they will take steps towards a merger, which is expected to be finalised by April 2002. As part of the plans, Sumitomo will pick up a 10 per cent stake each in Sakura Bank’s two joint ventures in online banking and consumer financing, while Sakura is considering a stake in DLJdirect SFG Securities, an online brokerage venture of Sumitomo Bank and in some other Sumitomo firms.
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