Page 42 - Banks

India set for $168 bn behemoth as HDFC merger to be completed by 20 July

Announcement of the so called 'record date' - or the cut-off day set for investors - for the swapping of shares of Housing Development Finance Corp. for HDFC Bank Ltd

Stellar show by banks, but will it continue?

There are challenges ahead. It won't be easy for the banking sector to put up a better performance every quarter

China's state-run banks reduce interest rates on deposits: Report

China's largest state-run banks have reduced interest rates on deposits this week to boost consumer spending

RBI notifies 4 key measures to strengthen 1,514 urban co-operative banks

Aiming to strengthen 1,514 urban co-operative banks, the Centre on Friday said the Reserve Bank has notified four key measures, including giving them two years more to meet the priority sector lending targets. The Ministry of Cooperation in a statement said that four important initiatives have been taken to strengthen 1,514 Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) in the country. "Pursuant to detailed discussions held by Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the RBI has notified these vital measures to strengthen Urban Co-operative Banks," it said. The ministry has listed the four measures notified by the RBI. In order to expand their business, UCBs can now open new branches up to 10 per cent (maximum 5 branches) of the number of branches in the previous financial year without prior approval of RBI in their approved area of operation. UCBs have to get the policy approved by their board

Clarification on applicability of TCS on overseas credit card spends soon

The tax department will soon come out with a clarification in the form of FAQs to distinguish between expenses incurred on personal visits and business trips for levy of 20 per cent TCS on overseas credit card spends from July 1, a senior official said on Friday. Following a notification which brought credit card spends under LRS, concerns have been raised on how personal and business expenses would be segregated by the banks who will be required to deduct the TCS on such expenses. Finance ministry joint secretary (Tax Policy and Legislation) Raman Chopra said the government would soon issue a clarification on the mode of applicability of the TCS provision. "There has been a lot of discussion with the finance secretary, the revenue secretary and the finance minister. We are certainly going to come up with some clarifications and FAQs on that and that will clarify the position beyond any reasonable doubt in what manner TCS is to be collected and to what extent threshold is available

Exchange of Rs 2,000 notes: SC refuses plea challenging RBI decision

The Supreme Court on Friday refused urgent hearing on a plea challenging the notifications enabling exchange of Rs 2,000 currency notes without any requisition slip and ID proof. A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal perused the report filed by the registry, and said there is no urgency in the matter. The top court directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud after summer vacations. The petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay submitted that it was very unfortunate that the top court is not taking up such an important matter. The apex court said this is a court and not a public platform and the matter has to end somewhere. This is second time that the apex court has refused an urgent hearing on the issue. On June 1, the top court had refused to list for urgent hearing Upadhyay's plea challenging the notifications and said it would not be taking up such pleas during the summer break. The lawyer had earlier submitted that Rs 2,000 ban

Tepid response to RBI's two-day VRRR auction; banks park Rs 1,850 crore

The central bank infuses liquidity into the banking system using repos and sucks it out using reverse repos

270 mn loans to women under MUDRA; here's all you need to know about scheme

The MUDRA loans are given by commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, microfinance institutions, and non-banking financial institutions

Banks' reliance on AI to handle customer service worries consumer watchdog

Can you trust Erica, or Sandi or Amy to increasingly control parts of your financial life without giving you inaccurate information or sending money to the wrong place? That's what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking in a report released Tuesday, where the bureau lays out a number of concerns about the growing use of chatbots by banks to handle routine customer service requests. The CFPB worries that banks or loan-servicing companies may cut back on human customer service employees and push an increasing number of routine tasks to AI. Further, the regulator says poorly designed chatbots could run afoul of federal laws that govern how debts are collected or how personal information is being used. If firms poorly deploy these services, there's a lot of risk for widespread customer harm, said Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB, in an interview with The Associated Press. For several years, banks have been handling more and more customer service requests with chatbots, of

Banks can offer NDF contracts to resident Indians for hedging: RBI

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's central bank has issued rules allowing banks to offer non-deliverable forward contracts involving the rupee to resident Indians.

Visits to banks, physical presentation of documents can be avoided: Report

The report also suggested that REs may adopt Faceless / Straight Through Processes' (STPs) in order to close accounts, and/or accept, acknowledge, and track the communication by the customer

Centre directs banks to ensure nominees for all accounts and lockers

A bank official said that both the government and the RBI have stated that money should not be accumulated in the depositor education and awareness fund

RBI-appointed panel suggests host of customer-centric initiatives for banks

An RBI-appointed panel on Monday recommended hosts of customer-centric initiatives for banks, including online settlement of claims by heirs of deceased account holders, flexibility for submission of life certificates by pensioners and a centralised KYC database. The report of the Committee for Review of Customer Service Standards in RBI Regulated Entities (REs) has also suggested that the operations of accounts should not be stopped pending periodic Know Your Customer (KYC) updates. It recommended that there should be a time limit for the return of property documents to borrowers after the closure of the loan account, failing which a penalty should be imposed on the lender. In case of loss of property documents, the RE should not only be obligated to assist in obtaining certified registered copies of documents at their cost but also compensate the customer adequately, keeping in view the time taken to arrange the alternate copies of the documents, the report said. In May last year

Bank boards must hold mgmts accountable for their actions: RBI Dy Guv Rao

If the management fails to meet expectations, the board should even consider replacing it, he said

RBI deputy Guv urges banks to address gaps in governance framework

Boards should set clear expectations for management and should require reports on risk management on a regular basis, said Rao, at a conference of directors of state-run and private banks in May

RBI raises the governance premium for PSU banks on the road to 2047

The Governor of the RBI has for the first time provided a peek into the power structures within bank boards

CBI files case against IL&FS Transportation Network for defrauding 19 banks

The fraud done by IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL) and its directors came to light in 2018 after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) appointed a new board of directors

Rising risk appetite may affect some Banks' credit profiles: Fitch

Banks' loan growth over the financial year ended March 2023 (FY23) reached 15.4 per cent, the highest since FY12

Rs 2,000 note withdrawal to add Rs 1.5 trn of deposits to banks: Expert

The move to withdraw Rs 2,000 denomination notes will yield deposits of up to Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the banking system, Axis Bank Chief Economist Saugata Bhattacharya said on Wednesday. Notes of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh crore will come back into the system as deposits, Bhattacharya told reporters, adding that this should take the overall deposit growth to over 11 per cent in FY24. As per RBI data, the total value of Rs 2,000 notes in the system is Rs 3.62 lakh crore. Holders of the notes can either deposit the notes at banks, or get them exchanged over bank counters. It can be noted that the banking system has been passing through what some call as a 'war for deposits' at present, with a wide gap between the credit and deposit growth numbers. Bhattacharya said he expects the credit growth to slow down to 13 per cent in FY24 from 16 per cent, even as the deposit growth number will rise to 11-12 per cent from the single-digit figure in FY23. Meanwhile, Bhattacharya said Reserve Bank

High staff attrition a significant operational risk to banks: RBI Dy Guv

Outsourcing, lack of succession planning and staff skilling also areas of concern, Jain says