12/05/2015
BANK CURRENT CURRENT 2015
Salary Package Between Indian Army& Bank of India
Indian Army and Bank of India (BOI) on 8 May 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Defence Salary Package.
The signed MoU is a revised version of previous and first MoU which was signed in 2011 between both parties and was valid for a period of three years.
SBI Launched RUPAY Platinum Debit Card
India’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a RuPay Platinum debit card in association with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).
This card would be issued free to customers maintaining a quarterly balance of 50,000 rupees.
This card will be accepted at all payment channels including ATMs, point-of-sale (PoS) and eCommerce.
More over the Cards holders will get 5 per cent cash back on utility bill, complimentary concierge services, personal accident death and permanent total disability insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh, complimentary airport lounge.
Presently SBI has 19.7 crore debit cards in circulation. Of this 4.5 crore are RuPay cards.
Parliament Passed Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014
Parliament has passed Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014. It was first passed in Lok Sabha on December 22, 2014 and later in Rajya Sabha on April 28, 2015.
The Bill amends Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 and aims to strengthen the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and enhance their financial inclusion.
Important Features
• Authorised capital: This amendment bill increases the authorised capital of each Regional Rural Bank (RRB) from Rs 5 crore to Rs 2000 crore divided into Rs 200 crore of fully paid share of Rs 10 each.
• As per the parent Act the Rs 5 crore share capital of RRBs is split into 5 lakh shares of Rs 100 each.
• Issued capital: It also provides that the authorised capital issued by any RRB’s shall not be reduced below Rs 1 crore and shares in all cases to be fully paid up shares of Rs 10 each.
• Shareholding: The Bill allows RRBs to raise capital from sources other than the central and state governments, and sponsor banks.
• Board of directors: The Bill adds provision that any person who is a director of an RRB is not eligible to be on the Board of Directors of another RRB.
• It also mentions that directors will be elected by shareholders based on the total amount of equity share capital issued to such shareholders.
• Tenure of directors: The bill raises the tenure of directors to 3 years from existing 2 years. The Bill also states that no director can hold office for a total period exceeding six years.
• Closure and balancing of books: The parent Act had provision which mentioned that the balance books of RRBs should be closed and balanced by 31st December every year.
• However this amendment bill changes this date to 31st March in order to bring RRB’s balancing of books in uniformity with the financial year.
It should be noted that the parent Act of 1976 mainly has provisions for the incorporation, regulation and winding up of RRBs.
Bharatia Mahila Bank Wins Asian Achievement Award 2015
Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has won The Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 in the Technology Implementation category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank).
Usha Ananthasubramanian is the Chairman and Managing Director of BMB
• BMB was launched on November 19, 2013 as India’s first all-women public sector bank with the objective of focusing on the banking needs of the women and promoting financial inclusion and economic empowerment.
• In Budget 2013-14, Union Government had approved Rs 1,000-crore seed capital for the bank.
Headquarter of Bharatiya Mahila Bank is located in New Delhi.
Usha Ananthasubramanian is the Chairman and Managing Director of BMB
BOB and UAE Exchange tie up for instant cash transfer
Bank Bank of Baroda (BoB) and UAE Exchange tie up to offer Non-Resident Indians (NRI) instant cash transfer facility to their bank accounts in BoB in India.
UAE Exchange is a global remittance and foreign exchange (FOREX) company with worldwide presence
Bank of Baroda (BoB) has a network of more than 5,000 branches across across the world where NRI presence is substantial
ICICI Bank Launches Tap-n-Pay service
India’s largest private sector bank ICICIBank has launched a novel payment service Tap-n-Pay in collaboration with Tech Mahindra.
This new payment service is based on the near-field communications (NFC) technology . It will enable its customers make over-the-counter payments without physically swiping the card
• NFC technology will allow users to tap NFC enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to make payments.
• It is a prepaid account which will be available to customers of any bank by simply registering for it and transferring money online from any bank account.
• ICICI Bank customers can also transfer money to the Tap-n-Pay account through an SMS.
• To start with this service bank has offered it at large campuses of corporate offices.
ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra also are planning to extend this service across the country.
Mudra Bank Launched
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 April 2015 launched Micro Units Development Re-finance Agency (MUDRA) Bank in New Delhi.
MUDRA Bank will act as a regulator for ‘Micro-Finance Institutions’ (MFIs) involved in manufacturing, trading and service activities to promote their growth.
The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana will be the main support system for the bank and will be the part of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
The MUDRA bank was proposed in Budget 2015-16 by Union Government with an initial corpus of 20,000 crore rupees. Apart from this, 3,000 crore rupees also has been earmarked as credit guarantee corpus.
Roles for MUDRA Bank
• Formulate policy guidelines for micro-enterprise financing business and registration of MFI entities.
• Undertake rating and accreditation of MFI entities.
• Develope standardized set of guidelines in order to govern last-mile lending to micro enterprises.
• Promote appropriate technology solutions for the last mile.
• Formulate and operate a credit guarantee schemes in order to provide guarantees to loans and portfolios that are extended to micro enterprises.
• Support promotional and development activities in the sector and create a good architecture for last-mile credit delivery.
MUDRA Bank financing on 3 stages- Shishu, Kishore and Tarun.
• Shishu is first stage in which loan cover upto Rs 50,000 will be given to a business entity at start of business.
• Kishore is second stage in which loan cover ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh will be given.
• Tarun is the third stage in which loan cover up to Rs. 10 lakh will be given.
RBI Sign $ 400 million Currancy Swap with Lank
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed $400 million currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The currency swap agreement will allow central banks of both nations to make withdrawals of US Dollar or Euro in multiple tranches up to a maximum of $400 million or its equivalent.
The 3 year agreement will increase economic stability and co-operation between the two countries..
Background
• In SAARC FINANCE Governor’s meeting held in Nepal in 2012, RBI had announced that it will offer currency swap facilities aggregating $ 2 billion. This facility will be offered in both foreign currency and rupee to SAARC member countries.
• The swap arrangement are signed to provide a backstop line of funding for the SAARC member countries to meet any balance of payments (BoP) and liquidity crises till long-term arrangements are made.
• The facility will be available to all 8 SAARC member countries including India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
SAARC : South Asian Association Regional Co Operation
