03.11.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

 03.11.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 PNB posts Q2 profit of ₹621 crore : Aided by lower provisioning for bad debts, PNB, on Monday, reported a standalone net profit of ₹621 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. This was more than double the net profit of ₹308 crore recorded in first quarter of this fiscal. It may be recalled that the country’s second-largest public sector bank had, from April 1, this year amalgamated two PSBs – Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India – with itself. For the second quarter ended September 30, 2019, PNB had recorded net profit of ₹507 crore. The latest Q2 performance is not comparable with the same quarter last fiscal in view of the three-way amalgamation from April 1 this year, PNB said in a filing with the stock exchanges. - Business Line

🍒 HDFC Q2 net profit down at ₹2,870 crore : Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd reported a 27.5 per cent decline in standalone net profit in the second quarter of the current fiscal at ₹2,870.12 crore, compared with ₹3,961.53 crore in the same period a year ago. “To facilitate a like-for-like comparison, after adjusting dividend, profit on sale of investments, fair value adjustments, net gains on loans assigned, charge for employee stock options and provisioning the adjusted profit before tax for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 is ₹ 3,366 crore compared to ₹ 2,646 crore in the previous year, reflecting a growth of 27per cent,” it said in a statement on Monday, adding that the profit numbers for the quarter ended September 30, 2020 are not directly comparable with that of the previous year.  - Business Line

🍒 City Union Bank net slips to ₹158 cr in Q2 : Kumbakonam-headquartered City Union Bank’s profit after tax slipped to ₹158 crore for the quarter ended September 2020 when compared to the ₹194 crore clocked during the corresponding quarter of the earlier fiscal. The bank, in a statement, said that the profit before tax for the quarter was impacted on account of additional provision of ₹115 crore made towards Covid to meet future contingencies. The bank already made a provision of ₹225 cr for Covid-19 as on June 30, 2020; during the current quarter, with the additional provision of ₹115 crore, total provision towards Covid-19 at the end of the first half of the current fiscal has touched ₹340 crore. - Business Line

🍒 Karur Vysya Bank Q2 net profit jumps 81% to Rs 115 crore : Private sector Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) on Friday reported an 81.4 percent jump in its net profit at Rs 114.89 crore in the second quarter of FY 2020-21, helped by lower provisioning for bad loans. The south-based lender had posted a net profit of Rs 63.33 crore in the corresponding three months a year ago.Total income though fell to Rs 1,666.26 crore in the July-September period of FY21 as against Rs 1,815.24 crore in the same quarter of 2019-20, KVB said in a regulatory filing. - moneycontrol.

🍒 Centre extends Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme till the end of November : The government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by a month till November 30 until the entire Rs 3 lakh crore made available under the scheme is sanctioned, according to a finance ministry statement on Monday. Lending institutions under the scheme have sanctioned loans amounting to Rs 2.03 lakh crore to 60.67 lakh borrowers and disbursed loans totaling Rs 1.48 lakh crore as of date, it said. The decision was taken in view of the further easing of Covid-19 restrictions on various sectors of the economy and the expected rise in demand during the festive season, it said. - economic times 

🍒 Covid stress: Banks confident provisions are good enough : Rising collection efficiencies helped by a rebound in economic activities and benign initial requests for restructuring have made banks increasingly confident that the provision they carry on their books should be good enough to deal with Covid related stress. Both private and public sector banks are confident that stress in their books will not go out of hand by the end of the fiscal as they have all increased their provision coverage ratio (PCR) to deal with any increased stress. However, analysts say that the real test for banks will come in the third and fourth quarters as the Supreme Court stay on classification of NPAs will be lifted and more clarity emerges on the restrcuturing requests to banks.- economic times

🍒 Aditya Puri appointed as a senior adviser in Asia for Carlyle Group : Global investment firm The Carlyle Group has announced that Aditya Puri, former CEO of India’s largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, has been appointed as a senior advisor to Carlyle in Asia, said a statement issued today. Puri will advise the Carlyle team on investment opportunities across Asia. He will provide guidance on the evolving market landscape and new investment opportunities, while also advising the company’s investment professionals and portfolio management teams on building differentiated high quality businesses. - economic times

🍒 IDFC First Bank logs strong September quarter, expects restructuring at 4% of loan book : IDFC First Bank is factoring in total restructuring of about 4% of its loan book of Rs 1.06 lakh crore under the Covid-19 recast window, chief executive V Vaidyanathan told ET. The bank has received retail restructuring proposals worth Rs 200 crore through its online portal, while a few corporate restructuring requests are also under consideration, he added. “On our website, we have provided an end-to-end-restructuring journey for our retail customers, where we have received proposals worth Rs 200 crore, which is 0.4% of our customer base; some requests have come on the corporate side which are under consideration,” Vaidyanathan said. The restructuring window is open for corporates till December 31. According to a previous estimate by India Ratings, the banking system could restructure loans worth Rs 8.4 lakh crore due to the Covid-19 pandemic. - economic times

🍒 Bandhan Bank prunes Covid-related risk projections with better repayment collection : Bandhan Bank has lowered its Covid-related risk projections with repayment collection showing steady improvement over the last six months giving the lender confidence about further recovery and asset quality strength. The bank said it has made additional Covid-related provision of Rs 2100 crore covering 2.8% of its portfolio, and it might not need to top it up substantially going forward if the current repayment trend continues, bank chief executive Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told ET. During the initial days of the pandemic, the lender thought of creating an additional provision buffer of 3.5% of its loan book. At the end of September, it has Rs 76615 crore as loan outstanding including Rs 5000 crore of off-balance sheet exposure .- economic times

🍒 HSBC appoints new head of debt financing business in India : HSBC has elevated old hand Chetan Joshi as head of its debt financing business in India, according to sources. Joshi was previously managing director and head of the bank's debt capital markets business in which role he led the UK-headquartered lender to the position of the top-ranked arranger of foreign debt issuances from India. The bank is also said to have announced the appointment of Vinod Venkatesh in Joshi’s role. Joshi will also be overseeing the debt capital markets business in addition to taking added responsibilities for acquisition and leveraged finance, these sources said.. - economic times

🍒 RBI extends deadline for banks' compliance with new guidelines for existing current accounts :  The Reserve Bank of India has given more time to banks to comply with the revised current account opening norms to ease their operational glitches. The regulator changed the rules to prevent the misuse of the current account facility and fund duversions. The new deadline is December 15 instead of November 5. RBI suggested that banks should not route drawal from term loans through current accounts. Since term loans are meant for specific purposes, the funds should be remitted directly to the supplier of goods and services.- economic times

🍒 ICICI Lombard gets CCI nod to acquire Bharti AXA’s non-life insurance business : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its nod for the merger of Bharti AXA’s non-life insurance business with ICICI Lombard General Insurance, paving the way for creating the country’s third-largest non-life insurance company. “Commission approves acquisition of General Insurance Business of Bharti AXA @BhartiAXAGI by ICICI Lombard @ICICILombard”, the CCI tweeted on Monday.- Business Line

🍒 RBI to increase trading hours for various markets : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increase trading hours for various markets regulated by it by up to 90 minutes with effect from November 9. With the graded roll-back of the lockdown and easing of restrictions on movement of people and functioning of offices, it has been decided to restore trading hours for regulated markets in a phased manner, the central bank said in a statement. The timings of markets for call/notice/term money; Commercial Paper and Certificates of Deposit; Repo in Corporate Bonds; Government Securities; Foreign Currency (FCY)/Indian rupee (INR) Trades, including Forex Derivatives; and Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives, will be increased to 10 am to 3.30 pm from 10 am to 2 pm. - Business Line

🍒 ICICI Bank shares jump nearly 6 per cent as Q2 profit zooms to record high : Shares of ICICI Bank on Monday jumped nearly 6 per cent after the company reported an over four-fold jump in consolidated net profit for the September quarter. The stock gained 6.64 per cent to Rs 418.65 on the BSE. On the NSE, it jumped 6.59 per cent to Rs 418.50. . - Business Line

🍒 ‘Fresh corporate bond issuances to rise up to ₹8.2-lakh crore in FY21’ : Fresh corporate bond issuances are expected to rise to ₹8.0-8.2-lakh crore in FY21 from ₹6.55-lakh crore in FY20, as spreads on these bonds over government securities (G-Sec) of similar tenure are likely to remain narrow over the next few quarters, according to ICRA. The spreads on corporate bonds over G-Secs of similar tenure declined to pre-Covid levels by the end of Q2 (July-September) FY21, the credit rating agency said.- Business Line

🍒 PNB Housing Finance set to prune corporate loan book by Rs 1,500 cr : Mortgage lender PNB Housing Finance (PNB HFC) plans to reduce corporate loan book by Rs 1,500 crore by March 2021 and is going in for a second round of rationalisation. Hardayal Prasad, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) said the company has built a strong balance sheet and will continue to rebalance its portfolio to build a robust retail franchise. There was a sell down and accelerated pre-payment of Rs 477 crore in the corporate book. "HFC remains steadfast in its strategy to bring down share of corporate book by end of the current fiscal year," Dayal said in an analysts’ call. - Business Standard

🍒 10-year G-Sec yields will average 6.2% by March 2021: Crisil : Credit rating agency Crisil believes that 10-year Government Security (G-Sec) yields will average 6.2 per cent by March 2021 versus its previous estimate of 6.5 per cent. The agency reasoned that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has looked through the current spurt in inflation and stated its commitment to stay accommodative and provide liquidity to the system. In this regard, Crisil observed that the central bank increased purchase of G-secs by conducting Open Market Operations (OMOs), Operation Twists (OTs), introduction of OMOs for State G-secs, and increase in banks’ limits for statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) securities under held-to-maturity (HTM) to ensure that the demand for G-secs remains strong. - Business Line

🍒 Paytm Postpaid targets 15 million users by end March 2021 : Paytm, a leading digital financial services provider, on Monday said it is aiming a total of 15 million users for its Postpaid micro credit service by March 20-21. This would be more than double the current customer base of 7 million for its Postpaid service. With Paytm Postpaid, users can avail instant credit for their Paytm purchases, which they can repay next month. Paytm Postpaid is offered in partnership with two leading NBFCs with an instant credit line for various payments to Paytm App users. - Business Line

🍒 PhonePe hits 250 mn user mark, registers 925 mn transactions in October : Flipkart-owned fintech platform PhonePe on Monday said it has crossed the 250 million registered user milestone. The company reported over 100 million monthly active users (MAU) and 2.3 billion app sessions in October, a statement said. “PhonePe had a record month in October, processing 925 million transactions – its highest so far – with an annual TPV (total payment volume) run rate of USD 277 billion. PhonePe also processed 835 million UPI transactions in October, for a market leading share of over 40 per cent,” it added. Sameer Nigam, CEO and founder of PhonePe, said the company has set a target of crossing 500 million registered users by December 2022. - financial express

🍒 Four ex-RBI governors including Raghuram Rajan, YV Reddy warn of NPAs delaying recovery : Domestic banks, which have the highest bad loan pile in the world, pose a huge risk to the recovery of the pandemic-ravaged economy unless the government rescues them, four former Reserve Bank governors warn in a soon-to-be-released book. While Raghuram Rajan blames excessive investments by companies and the exuberance of bankers, coupled with inability to act fast as the prime causes for NPAs (Non-Performing Assets), Yaga Venugopal Reddy opines that the bad loans are not only a problem but a consequence of other problems. Duvvuri Subbarao sees NPAs as a big and real problem that needs to be contained, and Chakravarthy Rangarajan blames the lingering real sector problems, partly policy-driven most recently seen with demonetisation, aggravated the crisis. "Yes, the bad loan problem is big and real," says Subbarao, who was the governor for five years from September 2008 to September 2013, in the book by senior journalist Tamal Bandyopadhyay titled 'Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy'. - moneycontrol.

🍒 BoB, ICICI Bank announce fees for certain cash transactions; more may follow : Some of the large commercial banks have introduced or tweaked convenience fees on certain cash transactions from November 1. Two banks - Bank of Baroda (BoB) and ICICI Bank - have made announcements that essentially say that they will now levy a fee or hike existing fees that will be charged to customers for certain type of cash transactions. BoB has said it will levy a higher cash handling charges for cash transactions beyond certain limits - a minimum Rs 50 and a maximum Rs 20,000, the bank said on its website. Earlier, BoB, used to charge a minimum of Rs 10 and maximum of Rs 10,000 for certain kind of cash deposits. Similarly, ICICI Bank too has said it will charge a convenience fee of Rs 50 per transaction from customers for cash deposits at ATMs during non-business hours and bank holidays. Customers will be charged for every such transaction done on bank holidays and between 6:00 pm and 8:00 am on working days.  - moneycontrol.

🍒 Gold prices back above Rs 51,000/10 gm on safe haven buying ahead of US election, silver gains Rs 1,941/kg : Gold prices rose by Rs 197 to Rs 51,037 per 10 gram in the Mumbai retail market on the weaker rupee and positive global cues. The precious metal was trading firm on safe-haven buying ahead of the US Presidential election on November 3. The rate of 10 gram 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 46,750 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram was Rs 51,037 plus GST. The 18-carat gold quoted at Rs 38,278 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices jumped Rs 1,941 to Rs 61,867 per kg from its closing on October 30.

🍒 Rupee slumps 32 paise to close at 74.42 against US dollar : The rupee depreciated 32 paise and settled at 74.42 (provisional) against the US dollar on November 2 tracking strong American currency amid global risk aversion. The local unit opened at 74.40 at the interbank forex market, then lost further ground and finally closed at 74.42 against the greenback, down 32 paise over its last close.

🍒 Sensex ends 144 pts higher; banking, financial stocks sparkle : Equity benchmark Sensex ended 144 points higher on Monday, tracking strong buying sentiment in financial stocks amid positive cues from global markets. After gyrating 633.11 points in a choppy session, the 30-share BSE index settled 143.51 points or 0.36 per cent higher at 39,757.58.Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 26.75 points or 0.23 per cent to 11,669.15.IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 7 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank.On the other hand, Reliance Industries (RIL) was the top laggard, crashing over 8 per cent. HCL Tech, TCS, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Maruti and UltraTech Cement also ended in the red.