Based on the recommendations of T M Bhasin Committee, appointed on behalf of West Bengal State Level Bankers&rsquo; Committee, 938 unbanked gram panchayats have been identified for opening bank branches in West Bengal.

UBI to open 11 branches in unbanked gram panchayats of Bengal during 2009-10

Business Standard

Banks are exploring the option of increasing the sub-prime lending rate, mainly offered to companies, while keeping the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) untouched.

Banks may tweak sub-PLR if RBI raises cash reserve ratio

Nowhere are yields as low as in Japan&rsquo;s debt market and nowhere are returns higher as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama&rsquo;s government fails to stop deflation.

Why Japanese bonds yielding 1.3% offer the highest return

Financial inclusion, the process of ensuring access of timely and adequate credit by the vulnerable groups at an affordable cost, has been achieved in thirteen districts of Orissa.

13 Orissa districts financially included

Religare aims to become one of the top financial services companies globally, and in double-quick time.

Eyes on the world

RBI tells banks to draw a roadmap for financial inclusion.

Unique identity number to help banks skip KYC rules

United Bank of India (UBI) is likely to file a red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for their initial public offer (IPO) next week, Chairman Satish C Gupta has said. &ldquo;We hope to come out with the IPO by end January or early February,&rdquo; Gupta said.

UBI likely to float IPO by early February

HSBC Asset Management (India) Private Limited has announced the appointment of Mehul Bhatt as Head of Fund Management&ndash;-Equity for its Portfolio Management Services (PMS) business.

Mehul Bhatt joins HSBC Asset Management

Press Trust of India

Recognising Indian economy&rsquo;s resilience to global financial crisis, rating agency Moody&rsquo;s today upgraded its outlook on Indian government&rsquo;s local currency rating (Ba2) to positive from stable.

Moody's upgrades outlook for rupee

State-owned Allahabad Bank is planning to open 26 centralised retail-banking boutiques across the country by the end of this fiscal as it expects a 15 per cent rise in retail loans this year.

AllBank to open retail-banking boutiques across India

American International Group's (AIG) chief executive Robert Benmosche has said the insurance company is &quot;too big&quot; and &quot;complex&quot; to manage and needs to shrink.

AIG is too large and needs to shrink: Benmosche

Fidelity Mutual Fund today announced the appointment of Shriram Ramanathan as the new fund manager for its fixed income funds.

Fidelity appoints Shriram Ramanathan as fund manager

Banking operations are likely to be hit tomorrow as public sector bank employees will go on a one-day nation-wide strike to protest the proposed merger of the State Bank of Indore with its parent SBI.

Nation-wide bank strike tomorrow

Betting big on the growing India-related M&amp;A deals, private-sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank today entered into a pact with Russian investment bank, Renaissance capital, to advise cross-border transactions.

Kotak bets big on M&A deals, ties up with Russian bank

IndiaFirst Life Insurance has received regulatory approval to launch three products and expects to commence its operations by the month-end, a senior official said.

IndiaFirst to start ops by Dec-end, gets nod for 3 products

Major global banks such as Standard Chartered, Barclays and HSBC have paid lesser amounts in advance tax in the third quarter of this fiscal compared to the year-ago period, while the domestic banks have paid higher amounts during the same period.

MNC banks pay lesser advance tax in Q3

State-owned IDBI Bank today announced lowering interest rates to 8.25 per cent for home loans irrespective of the amount till March 2012, giving a wider option of cheap loans to home buyers.

IDBI lowers home loan rates to 8.25%

Public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) today received final approval for its general insurance venture from the sectoral regulator IRDA.

SBI gets final nod for non-life venture

Amid the raging controversy over the issue of bankers bonus, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has asserted that its ability to give competitive pay to the staff is essential for the company's success.

Competitive pay essential for bank's success: RBS

Trikona Trinity Capital, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed real estate fund, has terminated the contract with its India advisers, Trikona Advisors.

Trikona Capital ends deal with Indian advisers

The association has been opposing the agreement, for denial of the benefit of additional cost being paid to other banks for the payment of pension as second option by the IBA.

SBI officers seek separate bank-level wage negotiation

Finance News: Latest investing news and finance headlines straight from Business Standard.

Page 2764 - Finance News