Banknet India
News and Stories from banknetindia.com

• Smaller cities generating job opportunities
  Top 15 tier II Indian cities are cornering significant percentage of job opportunities.
• Global reinsurance market is robust
  Robust global reinsurance market positioned to meet industry challenges, says IAIS report.
• An Indian becomes the CEO of Citigroup
  Vikram Pandit is the new Citigroup Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors.
• Federal funds rate cut by 25 basis points
  US Federal Open Market Committee has lowered the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent.
• Financial markets hit by renewed credit woes
  Global financial markets hit by renewed credit woes, according to the BIS Quarterly Review.
• SEBI simplifies guidelines on corporate bonds
  SEBI has removed structural restrictions on corporate bond issuances in India.
• RBI cautions against overseas e-mail frauds
  Reserve Bank of India has cautioned public about fictitious offers of remitting cheap funds from abroad.
• Risk and compliance spending to cross the US$14bn
  Celent predicts global risk and compliance spending will cross the US$14 billion mark in 2008.
• Post Office Small Savings Schemes becomes attractive
  Government of India has announced various sops to make Post Office Small Savings Schemes attractive.
• Inter-Bank ATM transactions becomes cheaper in India
  IDRBT has waived charges for providing facility of switching (routing) the transactions of various member banks through National Financial Switch (NFS).
• Challenges increase for Indian Banks
  Fitch is increasingly cautious in its near-term outlook on the performance of Indian banks.
• Indian government to invest Rs 10,000 crore in SBI
  State Bank of India (SBI) would raise 167.4 billion rupees ($4.2 billion) from the rights issue.
• Government Securities Act, 2006 comes into force
  The new Act and Regulations would facilitate widening and deepening of the Government securities market and its regulation.
• SEBI prescribes norms for fast track issues
  Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has amended the Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines.
• Banks may face ban if recovery agents violate guidelines
  Reserve Bank may consider imposing a ban on a bank if their recovery agents violate guidelines.
• RBI expands the scope of infrastructure lending
  Infrastructure lending by banks and FIs will now also include gas/crude oil/petroleum pipelines projects.
• Banknet announce Bank Customer Survey on Payment Systems
  Banknet will release survey findings on January 16, 2008 at Fourth International Conference on Payment Systems at Mumbai.
• RBI directs NBFCs to restrict solicitation calls
  Reserve Bank asks Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) to also register their agents, who make solicitation calls with DoT.
• Technology to reshape insurance landscape
  TowerGroup research finds that rapid advancements in technology will reshape the insurance over next decade.
• ATM frauds down 55% in Europe due to EMV adoption
  According to the ATM Crime Statistics report of European ATM Security Team (EAST), ATM frauds has dipped by 55%.
• Lack of workforce may stagnate Indian KPO business
  KPO business may stagnate at US$ 10.5 billion mainly on account of dearth of talented professionals, according to a report.
• SEBI Board approves new derivative products
  SEBI Board has approved introduction of new derivative products for the Indian market.
• Indian MF size to be Rs 6 lakh crore by March 08
  Indian mutual fund size is expected to be Rs 6 lakh crore by March 08, according to a study of Assocham.
• Internet Banking allowed for dealing in Vostro
  Reserve bank of India has allowed banks for internet based operations on Rupee Vostro Accounts.
• Baring Asia to invest US$44 million in Karvy
  Baring has entered into a joint agreement with ICICI Venture to acquire a significant stake in Karvy Stock Broking.
• Mobile banking is finally coming into its own
  TowerGroup estimates that more than 40 million U.S. consumers will adopt mobile banking by 2012.
• First Russian Bank to open a branch in India
  Reserve Bank of India has given permission to Russia's VTB Bank to open a branch in India.
• Government constitutes 13th Finance Commission
  The Government has constituted the Thirteenth Finance Commission, which will be headed by Dr Kelkar.
• Indian Banks record high profit growth
  Most of Scheduled Commercial Banks have seen average rise of 30% in net profits in the second quarter of the financial year 2007-08.
• IFC study identifies the best SME banking practices
  IFC study identifies best practices to help banks improve services for small and medium enterprises.
• Rupee appreciation to help inorganic growth worldwide
  Rupee appreciation is a boon for overseas Mergers and Acquistions by Indian Companies.
• EU growth expected to slow down, key rates unchanged
  European Union growth expected to slow down, ECB keeps key interest rate kept unchanged.
• Losses from economic crime increase by 40% in two years
  Financial loss to companies worldwide, due to frauds rose nearly 40% in two years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers Survey.
• Fitch affirms India's ratings with a stable outlook
  Fitch Ratings has affirmed the India's Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings with a Stable Outlook.
• Compliance operating models in many banks are inefficient
  The risk and compliance operating models of many banks are fragmented and inefficient, as per a survey.
• Norms announced for directors of nationalised banks
  RBI has laid down specific fit and proper criteria for elected directors on the boards of nationalised banks.
• US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to 4.5%
  US Fed cut federal funds interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.5 per cent, as widely expected.
• RBI announces Mid-term Review of Annual Policy 2007-08
  Reserve Bank of India keeps Bank Rate, Repo Rate and Reverse Repo Rate unchanged but increase CRR by 50 basis points.
• RBI releases report on monetary developments
  Reserve Bank releases report on Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments as a backdrop to the Mid-Term Review of Annual Policy.
• SEBI guidelines on Offshore Derivative Instruments
  Securities and Exchange Board of India has revised guidelines on Offshore Derivative Instruments (Participatory Notes).
• Indian firms go slow on merger and acquisi