Page 5 - Banks

Banks see thinning spreads, driven by credit dip, lower deposits, rate cuts

Growing competition in corporate and institutional credit as well as in home loans, and lower interest rates have also put pressure on lending margins

Credit to India Inc declines to 36% in 14 years, BCG report shows

Corporate credit share shrinks as firms tap bonds, private credit and markets; retail lending rises sharply, making balance sheets stronger and funding more diversified

J&K Bank names veteran banker S Krishnan as non-executive chairman

J&K Bank on Wednesday said its board has approved the appointment of S Krishnan as non-executive chairman of the bank for a period up to March 26, 2028. His appointment would be effective from the date of approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), J&K Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank's board, in its meeting held on August 25, took the decision in this respect, it said. Krishnan, currently an independent director on the board of Srinagar-headquartered bank, served as MD & CEO of state-owned Punjab & Sind Bank. Subsequent to superannuation and pursuant to the approval of the appointment by the RBI, Krishnan took charge as MD & CEO of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank in September 2022. Krishnan, a veteran banker with more than four decades of experience, is a postgraduate in Commerce and a qualified Cost Accountant.

Net-Zero Banking Alliance halts activities as global banks exit membership

The reality is NZBA "never truly challenged the fossil fuel-oriented business models of major banks," said Lucie Pinson, the founder of climate nonprofit Reclaim Finance

SBI asks regulator to allow banking industry to finance acquisitions

SBI Chairman also urged the private sector to commence investment for capacity expansion, as the government has already taken several steps to boost consumption

Veteran banker Rajiv Anand takes charge as CEO of crisis-hit IndusInd Bank

Anand, whose appointment was announced earlier this month, was previously deputy managing director at Axis Bank and held key management positions at leading global financial institutions

Sebi approval for LIC as IDBI Bank public shareholder after divestment

SEBI has approved reclassification of LIC as a public shareholder in IDBI Bank following strategic divestment, subject to curbs on voting rights and board representation

Bank-AI collab improves pricing, risk models: Philadelphia Fed's Jagtiani

Bank-fintech collaborations are allowing for more proper pricing and risk underwriting, said Julapa Jagtiani, Senior Economic Advisor and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, on Thursday. Jagtiani was addressing a webinar on "Beyond Intuition: AI, Crypto, and Social Algorithms Shaping the Future of Finance", organised by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) Centre for Software and IT Management (CSITM). "When banks team up with vendors of AI solutions, we see more correct pricing of non-prime borrowers. Rather than pricing all as equally risky, AI differentiates who will default and who will not," said Jagtiani. The webinar was attended by more than 170 participants and included pre-eminent finance professionals from the United States, United Kingdom, and India. Apart from Jagtiani, the panel comprised Evelyn de Rothschild, Professor of Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, Marina Niessner, Assistant Professor of Finance at Indiana University's ..

Advisory Board for Banking and Financial Frauds reconstituted for 2 year

Advisory Board for Banking and Financial Frauds, a panel to examine role of top bank officials or financial institutions in fraud cases, has been reconstituted for two years, with ex-CVC Suresh N Patel designated as its chairman. ABBFF, which functions as a 'Safety Valve' for bankers, has been reconstituted for two years with effect from August 21, 2025. The members of the board are Ravikant, a former secretary of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare; Rajni Kant Mishra, a former director general of the Border Security Force; Alok Kumar Choudhary ex-MD of State Bank of India and Sarada Kumar Hota, former MD of National Housing Bank, a notification said. As per the terms of appointment, the chairman and members of ABBFF are eligible for re-appointment, subject to the condition that the total period of appointment as chairman and/or member should not exceed 4 years or 70 years of age, whichever is earlier, said the notification dated August 19. The board has been mandated to examin

Adani Group units secure $275 million offshore loans from global banks

Investors have grown more confident lending the Adani Group as it seeks to raise funds across the spectrum of its businesses

Low savings account interest rates fuel a rush to liquid mutual funds

Net new account openings swell to 220,000 in 2025

FinMin to meet CEOs of PSBs on August 20 to review Q1 performance

The finance ministry has called a meeting of heads of public sector banks (PSBs) on Wednesday to review the first-quarter financial performance. The meeting is scheduled to be chaired by Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju. The review meeting on August 20 with public sector banks to assess the performance of the first quarter of 2025-26, according to sources. Led by State Bank of India (SBI), public sector banks, cumulatively, logged a record profit of Rs 44,218 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, with an 11 per cent year-on-year growth. All 12 public sector banks together made a profit of Rs 39,974 crore in the June quarter of FY25. The increase in profit in absolute terms was Rs 4,244 crore. Market leader SBI alone contributed 43 per cent to the total earnings of Rs 44,218 crore, as per the published numbers on stock exchanges. SBI logged a net profit of Rs 19,160 crore in Q1 FY26, 12 per cent higher than the same period of the previous fiscal. In terms of siz

The Karnataka Bank saga: A clash of egos and cultures in old private banks

Karnataka Bank was founded by a group of agriculturists, lawyers and businessmen, led by BR Vysaray Achar, to promote economic development in the South Canara region. It has no identified promoter

Banks to clear cheques within few hours from October 4, says RBI

The RBI will introduce a new mechanism from October 4 for clearance of cheques within hours of being presented to banks, reducing the current time period of up to two working days. Cheques will be scanned, presented, and passed in a few hours and on a continuous basis during business hours. The clearing cycle will be reduced from the present T+1 days to a few hours. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) currently processes cheques with a clearing cycle of up to two working days. To improve the efficiency of cheque clearing and reduce settlement risk for participants, and to enhance customer experience, the RBI has decided to transition CTS from the current approach of batch processing to continuous clearing with 'on-realisation-settlement'. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a circular for introduction of Continuous Clearing and Settlement on Realisation in CTS. "It has been decided to transition CTS to continuous clearing and settlement on realisation in two phases. Phase 1 shal

Banks free to decide on minimum balance for savings accounts: RBI Guv

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Monday said banks are free to decide the minimum balance for savings accounts and that it does not fall under the regulatory domain of the RBI. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function on 'Financial Inclusion Saturation Drive' organized at Gozaria village panchayat in Gujarat's Mehsana district. Asked about a private bank increasing the minimum balance required for savings accounts, Malhotra said, "The RBI has left it to individual banks to decide on what minimum balance they want to set. Some banks have kept it at Rs 10,000, some have kept Rs 2,000 and some have exempted (customers). It is not in the regulatory domain (of RBI)." In a recent decision, private lender ICICI Bank increased the minimum balance requirement for those opening new savings accounts from August 1. The minimum average monthly balance (MAB) has been increased by five times to Rs 50,000 from Rs 10,000 on savings bank account, as per the ...

VinFast Auto India, HDFC Bank partner for auto, inventory financing

VinFast Auto India on Monday said it has partnered with HDFC Bank to provide auto and inventory financing for its exclusive dealer network. The two partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the same, the company, a subsidiary of Vietnam's EV maker VinFast, said in a statement. "The partnership, VinFast's first with a banking institution in India, aims to offer a seamless suite of credit solutions ahead of the company's highly anticipated launch," it added. VinFast Asia CEO Pham Sanh Chau said, "This MoU marks a significant milestone in our efforts to make electric mobility more inclusive, convenient, and future-ready for Indian consumers." HDFC Bank Group Head - Retail Assets Arvind Vohra said EV adoption is increasing and financing will play a large role in driving this. "The MoU with VinFast is a step in this direction and will enable customers to access VinFast's well known product line through financing options. This is part of the bank's larger effort to ..

IndusInd Bank to boost retail loans, MSME assets, and rural banking in FY26

Ramping up retail liabilities, scaling secured retail and MSME assets, and being selective in the corporate space are some of the focus areas for the current fiscal, as IndusInd Bank is making efforts to come out of the financial mess caused by past frauds, its chairman Sunil Mehta has said. Observing that FY25 was a watershed year for the bank, Mehta said, "This was also a year of internal reckoning. We faced certain challenges that required swift, transparent and decisive actions by the board and management. These events, while unfortunate, have catalysed a major transformation rooted in ethics, accountability, transparency and long-term sustainability". The Hinduja family-promoted bank, which is reeling under a slew of issues stemming from alleged irregularities at the top management in recognising bad loans and trading reverses, had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,329 crore for the March quarter of FY25. In March this year, the bank reported a Rs 1,979 crore accounting

RBI proposes standardised forms for claim settlement of deceased customers

The RBI plans to standardise forms to process claims on deceased customers' bank accounts and lockers within a 15-day timeframe and provide compensation to nominees for any settlement delays. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposes to come out with standard procedures for the settlement of claims in respect of bank accounts, and articles kept in safe custody or safe deposit lockers of deceased bank customers. The aim is to make the settlement more convenient and simpler. Towards this, the central bank has issued 'Draft Circular - Reserve Bank of India (Settlement of Claims in respect of Deceased Customers of Banks) Directions, 2025' and invited comments and feedback on it by August 27. "A bank shall use the standardised forms for receiving the claims and other documents...," said the draft. It also has provisions for compensation for delay in the settlement of claims. In case a nominee has been provided in deposit accounts or lockers, he or she would have to submit a claim form,

We have to play it right and convince people they can trust us: AU chief

I think the momentum will be huge in our favour be it in terms of deposits or loans. We just got the license last night and the kind of curiosity I am seeing around this is huge, said Agarwal

Banks roll over maturing VRRR amount; overnight WACR breaches repo rate

On Friday, the RBI conducted two VRRR auctions, one for six-day tenure and another for three-day tenure, to withdraw a total ₹3 trillion from the banking system