‘Financial inclusion is a big game-changer for banks’

The 95-year-old Mumbai-headquartered Union Bank of India, which has around 3,900 branches across the country, has deployed technology extensively in banking services. Recently, the state-owned bank launched ‘tabulous banking,’ a tablet-based account-opening process, which the bank’s Chairman and Managing Director Arun Tiwari, in an interview with BusinessLine, termed a huge success.

Tiwari, 57, who took up the reins in December last, says the financial inclusion policy is a big opportunity for public sector banks as it will help them go deep into the countryside and improve their bottomline. Tiwari is positive about the economy which he said would pick up “during Q3 and Q4 this financial year.” Read more

ICICI Bank offers EMI on debit cards

 

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank, has launched EMI (equated monthly instalments) facility on debit cards to enable its customers to convert their high value transactions into easy instalments.

The private lender has tied up with Samsung India to offer this facility across 9,000 stores in the country, including large format retailers, multi-brand outlets and standalone stores, for purchase of Samsung products like mobile phones, tablets and consumer electronics, among others.

The bank is the first in the country to introduce this facility, ICICI Bank said in a statement.

Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, said, “As we approach the festive season, we believe this initiative will empower over 22 million ICICI Bank debit card customers to buy products of their choice and pay in easy EMIs.”  Read more

United Bank of India sets up centralised retail hub in Kolkata

Kolkata-based lender, United Bank of India (UBI), has set up a centralised retail hub at its headquarters in the city, for faster processing and clearance of retail loans.

Inaugurated on August 15 by the bank’s Executive Directors, Sanjay Arya and Deepak Narang, the centralised retail hub will look at extending hassle free and time-bound sanction of housing & mortgage loans, the bank said in a release. Read more

Ban on campus recruitment of bank officers: Kerala HC order rings loud and clear

The ban on campus recruitment of officers in public sector banks has come into effect in light of the adverse strictures made by various courts.

The Ministry of Finance accepted as much while writing to the heads of banks directing them to stop the practice at once.

BOOSTS UNION MORAL

Among the earliest and most forthright observations by the courts had come as early as in 2006 from the High Court of Kerala in a related case (Sanal KC Vs SBI).

The observations boosted the moral of the Leftist student unions in the State that had built up a sustained campaign against campus recruitment of officers. Read more

Syndicate Bank case: Court to decide on bail pleas

 

A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order for tomorrow on the bail pleas of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Prakash Industries Ltd, Ved Prakash Agarwal, and its Director Vipul Agarwal, who along with others were arrested in the Syndicate Bank bribery case.

“I have heard arguments of counsel of accused Ved Prakash Agarwal and Vipul Agarwal. Order reserved for tomorrow,” Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma said.

During the arguments on the bail applications, advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for both the accused, told the court that CBI’s case against both his clients was merely on the basis of recorded conversations allegedly intercepted by the agency. Read more

RBI Governor to hold talks with unions on HR rejig

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan will meet representatives of employees’ unions on Tuesday to explain to them and get their views on the proposed restructuring of the central bank’s employees, including appointing a Chief Operating Officer (COO) and bringing various departments under clusters.

RBI officials said the initial proposal had been prepared on the basis of year-long internal exercise conducted through Intranet and by a committee. “It is not something which the Governor himself has proposed,” said an official, adding that no decision had been taken that the COO would be in the rank of a Deputy Governor. Nor had any timeline been fixed for implementingthe proposal.

“There are misgivings about the proposal. That is why the Governor is talking to employees unions and associations to hear their views and clear their doubts,” a senior RBI official told Business Line.

The official said that by undertaking the restructuring exercise, it does not mean that everything is being rewritten. The effort is to regroup various departments and make things more logical.

The Governor had an interaction with the employees through video conferencing, the official added. On August 10, the RBI board approved the broad contours of the proposal and now specifics such as appointment of a COO would be presented before the board, as and when required. Read more