Thursday, October 25, 2012

Vyavasayik Evam Audyogik Sahakari Bank penalized


The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty on the Vyavasayik Evam Audyogik Sahakari Bank Maryadit, Morena (Madhya Pradesh) for violations of banking regulation act. The Bank was penalized for violation of the directives/instructions/guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India on credit exposure ceiling, maximum limit on unsecured advances, Know Your Customer (KYC) / Anti Money Laundering(AML) and submission of compliance to RBI’s inspection report.......

Bank can freeze account into which it mistakenly credited money: High Court



When a bank inadvertently omits to upload the stop payment instruction issued by its account holder and the cheque is thus credited to the account of the payee despite such instruction, the bank is well within its rights to freeze the account of the payee till he returns the money with interest......
Read - HBL

Banks push credit cards, unsecured loans to outside clients

CAUTIOUS MOVE
  • Banks had stopped this practice in 2008 after the Lehman Brothers crisis
  • They resumed this about a year ago, with utmost care
  • This is because credit bureaus have developed and became more robust
  • The precautions taken by players would ensure default rates do not go up
  • However, after burning their fingers in 2008, a few players remain cautious

Read - BS

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Happy Vijayadashami



Social banking: New kid on the block?


............The first time the Deputy Governor tied himself in a knot was in conflating social priorities with social needs. The first is an act of deliberation by someone, usually the powerful who ranks needs. People need money, but to say that some sections need it more than the others is to set the social priority for its distribution. The second double-knot Chakrabarty tied around himself was in declaiming that any “business” that is not “social oriented” and “does not serve a social purpose” will become “irrelevant and unsustainable”, even if as he admitted that banks need to earn profits to remain viable. Money-lending at exorbitant rates was socially oriented and it remained self-sustaining and relevant only because formal banking, though “socially oriented”, became “irrelevant” to a wide swathe of the Indian poor. After this clumsy start, Chakrabarty then cut to the chase. Social banking, he said, is “one where the rich subsidise the provision of financial services to the poor and where banking business is oriented towards serving the masses instead of exploiting them.”...........

Banks may get targets to install card terminals


Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering setting a target for banks to install point of sales (PoS) terminals for acceptance of card payments. It is also looking at a wider role for non-banks in setting up 'white-label' PoS machines at retail outlets across the country. As against the 1.82 crore credit cards and 29.85 crore debit cards, there are only 6.97 lakh online PoS terminals in the country. Speaking at The Bankers' Club, Thrissur, on Monday, G Padmanabhan, ED, RBI, indicated that banks were taking easy way out by being content with steps initiated by regulator........

Odia man honoured for 'foolproof' payment system


SAMBALPUR: An Odia man was honoured by the Centre for devising an Aadhaar-based system for payments under different welfare schemes.  The system is unique as it would do away with repetition of payments because fingerprint authentication of the beneficiary is mandatory.  Abhaya Hota of Sambalpur received the award from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a function in Rajasthan recently. Hota after a career in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) became the managing director and chief executive officer of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). RBI had set up the NPCI, an umbrella institution, to clear and settle all inter-bank transactions in ATM transactions, mobile payments and card payments................

Read - TOI

Aadhaar to ‘aam aadmi’

.........While the progress in Aadhaar enrolments has been satisfactory, a lot more needs to be done for financial inclusion. One way out is for banks to appoint business correspondents (BC) to reach customers in remote areas where traditional brick-and-mortar operations aren’t feasible. A country-wide network of BCs – each equipped with a hand-held ‘micro-ATM’ device that is Aadhaar-enabled – is a viable option for delivering fertiliser subsidy or MGNREGA wages directly through electronic transfer into the beneficiaries’ accounts. The latter could withdraw that money in cash even from a BC with whom they may not have an account – similar to how one bank’s ATM can also be used by customers of other banks............

Banks reluctant to use Aadhaar numbers to open accounts

RBI note to follow due diligence on customer’s current address behind confusion; UIDAI seeks clarification


...........Indeed, despite RBI’s clarification last September that the number, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, would suffice, banks are still reluctant to accept it. Banks insist on KYC norms being met to open accounts. The opening of Aadhaar-linked bank accounts is the key to moving towards a regime of direct transfer of cash subsidies for everything from cooking gas to kerosene to fertilizer...........

Monetary policy has a role in growth revival

......Over the past year, RBI’s monetary policy stance has become increasingly contingent on fiscal consolidation, even as the debate continues on the respective roles of fiscal, industrial and monetary policies in controlling inflation while sustaining growth. As early as April, RBI emphasized that “persistent demand pressures emerging from inadequate steps to contain subsidies… will reduce whatever space there is (to further reduce policy rates)”. The government’s view, on the other hand, is that “high interest rates hurt everyone”.........

‘Writ under Article 226 lies against negligent nationalised bank’

A bank, a nationalised bank at that, is an instrumentality of the state and hence writ under Article 226 of the Constitution lies against it, said the Madras High Court in Ashok Amritraj vs Reserve Bank of India and others..............

Be cautious of perky UIBs: RBI

JAMMU:  Reserve Bank of India  has cautioned the people about the various Un-incorporated Bodies (UIBs) that intend to dupe the gullible investors of their hard earned money by luring them through advertisements offering attractive schemes and  stupendous returns. In a hand-out issued by the authorities of the Reserve Bank of India, several instances of frivolous and perky Un-incorporated Bodies (UIBs) have been mentioned to make the public aware of such associations and bodies......

With simpler hedging, RBI makes it easy for FIIs to invest

.........In a recent speech, Deputy Governor H.R. Khan said that during the current financial year, after depreciating by more than 10 per cent till June 2012, the rupee started recovering gradually in response to major central banks’ decision to go for further policy easing and the announcements of another round of reform measures by the Government...........

2 days on, University of Hyderabad’s school of economics scouts for funds

.......Observers said that the current impasse might further weaken with some of the brains behind the project leaving the university. "Y V Reddy, economist and former Governor, RBI was a major force behind the inception of a separate school. He has already requested to be relieved of duties as professor par excellence," a source said.

Read - TOI

We are not a bailout agency, says LIC

......Last fiscal, LIC had helped in recapitalisation of a slew of public sector banks, which was of big help to the lenders given the weak government finances, but which made Reserve Bank of India uncomfortable and it conveyed its displeasure to the banks boards............

RBI to issue Rs 100 note with rupee symbol

......These bank notes will bear the rupee symbol on the observe and the reverse with inset letter E in both the numbering panels, bearing the signature of governor D Subbarao, RBI said in a notification...........

Poor are honest borrowers: Chidambaram

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today asked banks and financial institutions not to hesitate in giving loans to the poor, saying they are honest borrowers and do not default on payment.........

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

RBI may treat part of SLR as liquidity under Basel III: Anand Sinha


MUMBAI: RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha today said the central bank is looking at a move under which a part of banks' statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) holdings can be treated in a way that it complies with liquidity norms under the Basel III capital requirements. "We are thinking on to how to work out a scheme under which a part of the SLR is treated as Basel III liquidity requirement," Sinha said at an event organised here by Care Ratings.........

In spirit and letterhead

Inflation and interest rates are not the only issues exercising the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) these days. The incidence of fraudsters invoking the central bank has become frequent, too. So much so, in addition to running the standard warning scrolls on its website, RBI recently added a footnote to its official leatherhead. Written in English and Hindi, it says, “RBI never sends mails, SMSes or makes calls asking for personal information like bank account details, passwords, etc. It never keeps or offers funds to anyone. Please do not respond in any manner to such offers.”

BS

RBI’s ineffective communication

........Fed officials made all of 48 speeches in 2011, and have made 33 speeches so far in 2012. In contrast, the top brass of RBI officials delivered 70 speeches in 2011, and already another 70 so far in 2012. The RBI seems to be inspired by the Bank of England where the number of speeches in a year matches that of the RBI. There is, however, a difference. In the case of the RBI, the burden of communication (read speeches) is largely shared by the ‘big five’ (the Governor and Deputy Governors), and in rare instances by a few Executive Directors. In the case of Bank of England, apart from the Governor and directors, 10 Executive Directors and 10 members each from the monetary policy and financial policy committees share the burden..........