The Malegam Committee's report published by the Reserve Bank of India on Monday, seems to have opened doors for Gujarat's cooperative credit societies, which had been waiting for long to get a status of cooperative banks. Experts anticipate about 40-50 cooperative credit societies from Gujarat may opt for becoming an urban cooperative bank (UCB) after the newly issued norms recommended by the Committee.

Guj to have at least 40 new UCBs after changed norms

Business Standard

31-year old trader arrested in London; decline in trade adds to Swiss bank&rsquo;s expected third quarter loss.

Rogue London trader costs UBS $2 bn

UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, said its India business will not be affected because of $2 billion loss arising out of unauthorised trading by one of its traders in the London office.

'No impact on India business'

On the day that Lehman Brothers, then the world&rsquo;s fourth largest investment bank, filed for bankruptcy three years ago, Anshu Jain, the incoming co-chief executive of Germany&rsquo;s biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, chose to make the first public speech after his promotion earlier this year.

Resolution will be found to euro zone crisis, says Anshu Jain

Punjab National Bank (PNB), the second largest government-owned bank in India, opened a representative office in the heart of the central business district here on Thursday, becoming the fourth Indian bank to establish a presence in Australia.

PNB opens office in Sydney

Religare Capital Markets Ltd (RCML), the investment banking subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Ltd, is in &lsquo;active dialogue&rsquo; with 15-20 companies for listing on the Alternative Investment Market, the London Stock Exchange's international market for growth stage companies.

Religare Capital in active talks with 15-20 companies for London listing

To further liberalise norms on foreign exchange transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced a number of relaxations pertaining to individuals.

RBI relaxes forex norms for individuals

Allianz SE (ALV)&rsquo;s reinsurance unit is selling less hurricane and earthquake coverage to third parties as it focuses on commercial property and casualty and agricultural policies. &ldquo;Allianz Re plans to write fewer peak risks in its open market business,&rdquo; Clemens von Weichs, chief executive officer of the unit of Europe&rsquo;s biggest insurer, said in an interview in Monte Carlo. &ldquo;We want to diversify into other lines of business.&rdquo; Allianz Re&rsquo;s annual sales to third parties will remain at about &curren;600 million ($822 million), said Von Weichs, who was in Monaco as reinsurers begin talks this week over 2012 renewals. Total gross written premiums for the unit last year were &curren;4.39 billion.

Allianz's reinsurance unit is selling less catastrophe cover

Goldplus, a mass-market jewellery brand of Titan Industries, on Thursday tied up with Kerala-based Muthoot Finance to offer a new scheme &mdash; Swarna Samridhi &mdash; in the Andhra Pradesh market.

Goldplus ties up with Muthoot Fin

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private lender, has slowed mobilising deposits from retail depositors in foreign markets. The move follows banking regulators in markets like the United Kingdom and Canada directing banks, including ICICI Bank, to disburse these deposits locally.

ICICI Bank goes slow on foreign deposit mop-up

The European Central Bank said it will lend dollars to euro-area banks in a series of three-month loans as the region's debt crisis limits market access to the US currency.

Central banks expand dollar operations

Concerned over high inflation, the Reserve Bank (RBI) today raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, its 12th such hike since March, 2010, making auto, home and other loans more expensive.

RBI raises key rates by 25 bps

Press Trust of India

All loans are set to become costlier, with the Reserve Bank today hiking the key interest rate for the 12th time since March, 2010, by 25 basis points to rein in high inflation.

RBI policy: Home, auto loan EMIs to go up

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told European Union (EU) finance ministers on Friday they should end loose talk about a euro zone break-up and work more closely with the European Central Bank (ECB) to tackle the debt crisis.

Geithner presses EU to act decisively

Reuters 

15 % of the country's total MSME units housed in Gujarat may be impacted.

High rate regime likely to push up NPAs of MSME units

The 10-month uncertainty over Axis Bank&rsquo;s acquisition of the financial services business of Enam Securities has finally ended, with the lender&rsquo;s board on Friday approving a revised deal structure mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Axis seals Enam deal with revised structure

Less than two months after UBS AG Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel said the bank had &quot;one of the best&quot; risk-management units in the industry, his firm posted a $2 billion loss from alleged &quot;unauthorised trading.

UBS's $2-bn loss may spur regulators' push to curb bank trading risks

The Maharashtra government on Saturday made a strong pitch for review of Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s prudential norms relating to all loans where government guarantees are being insisted upon, in a time-bound manner.

Maharashtra calls for review of RBI prudential norms

India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for investing up to Rs 30,000 crore in 2011-12 in the infrastructure sector through the take-out financing route. Both LIC and IIFCL had entered into an agreement to buy up to 40 per cent of infrastructure loan portfolios of banks, each having 20 per cent exposure. IDFC will take 10 per cent exposure.

MoU on takeout financing

The government is likely to take a decision on the appointment of a permanent chairman for Life Insurance Corporation of India in a week. &ldquo;We were waiting for the names to be cleared by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The search committee will decide on the permanent chairman shortly, which means in a week or ten days,&rdquo; said Finance Secretary D K Mittal.

LIC Chairman soon

Interest rate rises have been a cause of concern for the past 18 months. Prompted by the Reserve Bank of India's increase in the key rate, the repo, banks have raised interest rates by 325-350 basis points (bps). However, if one sees the profit and loss and balance sheet statements of Indian companies, they have not been under that much pressure due to the interest rise.

With rates at home high, India Inc goes abroad to borrow

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