FOR BANKING.................... Top Banking Developments (JANUARY 2014) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dismissed rumours that it has stopped banks from accepting scribbled currency notes from 1 January 2014 and announced that banks will continue to accept currency notes with scribbling. However, it reiterated that writing or scribbling on banknotes works against the Clean Note Policy (2013) to keep currency notes clean and sought co-operation from public, institutions and others in keeping the banknotes clean by not writing anything on them. It is worth mentioning that the Clean Note Policy, 2013 has guidelines about doing-away with practices like stapling of currency notes, writing (scribbling) on currency notes and re-issuing dirty notes to public by banks. ………………………………………………………………………………… Universal Electronic Bank Account (UEBA) proposed by Nachiket More Committee The Nachiket Mor Committee made the important recommendation to provide a Universal Electronic Bank Account (UEBA) each Indian citizen above the age of eighteen years by 1 January 2016. The report of the committee was submitted during January 2014. The committee in its report stated that the country should have enough number and distribution of electronic payment access points so that “every single resident would be within a 15 minute walking distance from such a point anywhere in the country” by January 2016. On UEBAs, the panel said every resident should be issued a UEBA automatically at the time of receiving their Aadhaar number by a “high quality, national, full-service bank”. The complete formal name of Nachiket Mor Committee is Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households. Nachiket Mor is the Member on the Central Board of Directors of the RBI. ………………………………………………………………………………… Axis Bank becomes first Indian domestic private sector bank to have branch in China Axis Bank during January 2014 became the first Indian domestic private sector bank to have a branch presence in China. This first branch of Axis Bank was opened in Shanghai. The bank received permission from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) for opening this branch. ………………………………………………………………………………… Mayaram Panel on removing ambiguity between FDI and FII The Arvind Mayaram led 4-member committee on defining FDI and FII and removing the ambiguity between them presented its report during January 2014. The committee recommended splitting overseas investment inflows into two categories – Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – with a minimum composite cap of 49%. The committee also recommended an aggregate automatic limit of 24% of FPI, which may be raised up to the extent of FDI permitted under the automatic route. ………………………………………………………………………………… Union Govt. revised plans to open 10,000 new bank branches The then Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram during January 2014 announced revising govt.’s target of opening new bank branches from 7,000 to 10,000 (per year). He stated that the in effort to take banking services to rural areas, the govt. has planned to open 10,000 new bank branches annually. This move is expected to create at-least 55,000 new bank jobs. ………………………………………………………………………………… Tamilnad Mercantile Bank announces 9000% interim dividend During January 2014, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) came to limelight for declaring an interim dividend of 9000%, which was said to be the highest in India’s banking industry. Tuticorin-based TMB took a decision to this effect at a meeting held during January 2014. This dividend stood at Rs. 900 per share of Rs 10 each, for the fiscal ending March 2014. ………………………………………………………………………………… P.J. Naik Committee for reviewing the governance of bank boards in India constituted The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during January 2014 constituted an 8-member expert committee led by former Axis bank Chairman and CEO PJ Naik to review the governance of bank boards in India, which included examining the ownership and salary structure of banks. ………………………………………………………………………………… CGTMSE provides risk coverage to BMB’s collateral-free loan scheme The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) during January 2014 agreed to provide risk cover to the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) for its ambitious scheme collateral-free loan scheme. Under this scheme BMB is providing collateral-free loans for amounts up to Rs. 1 crore to women entrepreneurs. CGTMSE is a credit guarantee scheme, where a premium is paid either by the lender or the applicant, and it is providing a guarantee cover for up to 80% of loans availed by women owned or operated micro- and small enterprises. ………………………………………………………………………………… Vakrangee Ltd. receives authorization for operating White Label ATM Vakrangee Ltd., which is engaged in providing e-governance solutions, during January 2014 received final authorization for operating White Label ATM (WLA) license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Under, the RBI license, the company is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country in next three years. White label ATMs are those which are not run by the Banks but by a non- banking entity in its own brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process undertaken by RBI. ………………………………………………………………………………… Deutsche Asset Management becomes first private sector fund house to launch IIF Deutsche Asset Management India (DAMI) during January 2014 became the first private sector fund house to launch an inflation indexed fund that aims to provide inflation-adjusted returns to investors. DWS Inflation-Indexed Bond Fund is an open-ended debt fund that opened for subscription on 16 January and closed on 27 January2014. Inflation indexed bonds (IIBs) are instruments where interest payment and principal are linked to whole sale price index (WPI) inflation and these bonds are currently available at an attractive yield of 3.6% above WPI. Government has been issuing IIBs on a monthly basis since June 2013. ………………………………………………………………………………… State Bank of India came out with plans to outsource some of its ATM operations India’s largest commercial bank SBI came out with plans to outsource the management of some of its ATMs by taking calls from vendors. During January 2014 SBI called for a Request for Proposal (RFP) from vendors to manage about 7,843 cash dispensers (ATMs). …………………………………………………………………………………
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 05:25:30 +0000
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