Sunday 13 December 2020

10.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

10.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 RBI lays down stringer dividend distribution formulae for NBFCs : The Reserve Bank of India has said that non-banking finance companies (NBFC) with minimum 15% capital adequacy and net non-performing assets (NPA) below 6% for three years will be eligible to declare dividend from this fiscal onwards. In a graded dividend payout format released on Wednesday, the regulator said that a better managed NBFC with less than 4% net NPA can still become eligible for dividend distribution even if the minimum capital and leverage norms are not met for the previous two years. These are part of a matrix where capital adequacy, leverage ratio, adjusted net worth and net NPA set the criteria for distributing the earnings with shareholders. Stronger entities can offer higher but with a cap of 50% of net profit for the accounting year for which the dividend is proposed. The dividend has to be paid only out of the current year's profit. "In order to infuse greater transparency and uniformity in practice, it has been decided to prescribe guidelines on distribution of dividend by NBFCs," RBI said. - economic times

🍒 ICICI opens new front with mobile app interoperability, other banks may follow : State Bank of India (SBI) will follow ICICI Bank's unprecedented move to open its mobile application to use by other bank's customers using the UPI platform, opening a new front in the battle for new customers and cheap deposits in the banking sector. ICICI on Monday announced that customers of any bank can link their bank account generate a UPI ID and start sending and receiving money to any bank account, payment app or digital wallet immediately. Moreover customers will also get instant access to the entire range of ICICI Bank’s banking services. Anup Bagchi, executive director, retail banking at ICICI said the bank hopes to benefit from new customer leads and ultimately deposits in the long run by allowing other bank customers to use its application. - economic times
 
🍒 Not viable to extend date of moratorium: RBI : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Wednesday, told the Supreme Court that extending the date of the loan moratorium is “not viable”. Appearing before a three-Judge Bench, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, the RBI, represented by senior advocate VGiri, referred to clause 3 of its August 6 circular for ‘Resolution Framework for Covid-19-related Stress’ to point out that lending institutions, guided by their respective board-approved policy, would prepare viable resolution plans for eligible borrowers. But lenders would also ensure that this resolution is provided only to borrowers stressed on account of Covid-19. - Businss Line

🍒 RBL Bank, ICICI Prudential join hands for bancassurance partnership : : RBL Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance have joined hands under a bancassurance partnership to sell insurance policies to the bank's customers. As many as 398 RBL Bank branches across 28 states will distribute ICICI Prudential Life's protection and savings products, according to a joint press release issued on Wednesday. The alliance will enable over 8.7 million customers of RBL Bank to access and seamlessly purchase customer-centric protection and long-term savings products of the insurance company, it added. - economic times

🍒 SBI General, Mahindra Insurance in tie-up : SBI General Insurance has partnered with Mahindra Insurance Brokers to increase insurance penetration in rural areas. “This association will enable the company to provide health insurance cover to a significant number of people in tier 2 and 3 markets and generate employment,” said SBI General Insurance in a statement on Wednesday. SBI General is also associated with Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd (MIBL) for new cars, commercial vehicles, tractors and used cars, and provides vehicle Insurance with several add-ons. The two have also partnered in the digital space with PAYBIMA for affordable insurance solutions. - Businss Line

🍒 RTGS 24x7 to be launched on December 14 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Wednesday, said that RTGS (real-time gross settlement) 24x7x365 will be launched with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14. The central bank, in a statement, said India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round-the-clock throughout the year. This comes within a year of operationalising NEFT (national electronic funds transfer) 24x7 by the Reserve Bank. The RTGS system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is ₹2 lakh with no upper or maximum ceiling. - Businss Line

🍒 Credit card: RBL Bank hopes to be back to pre-Covid levels on customer onboarding by Dec-Jan : Private sector lender RBL Bank hopes to continue with customer onboarding for its credit card division and touch pre-Covid levels by December or next month, but remains cautious about the segments it is acquiring new customers from. “On customer onboarding in credit cards, we will reach pre-Covid level either this month or latest by January,” said Harjeet Toor, Head -Retail, Inclusion and Rural Business, RBL Bank. The bank onboarded about 1.25 lakh new credit card customers last month against a monthly run rate of 1.3 lakh to 1.35 lakh customers before the Covid-19 pandemic. - Businss Line

🍒 Maruti Suzuki launches Smart Finance service for one-stop loan solutions : Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), on Wednesday, has launched Smart Finance service for Nexa customers across 30 citiesfor seamless and faster solutions for customers. The Maruti Suzuki Smart Finance will offer comprehensive finance solutions online and aim to simplify and digitalise the customer’s car buying journey with a bouquet of financing options, the company said. The services include choosing the right finance partner, selecting the best suited loan product, completion of all finance-related formalities, and disbursal of the loan with just a few clicks. - Businss Line

🍒 Exim Bank, SIDBI to set up investment fund to provide loan support to SMEs : Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) plan to jointly set up an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) to provide equity and loan support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which could emerge as rising stars in the export firmament. The AIF is being floated to give effect to a scheme, announced in FY21 Union Budget, to be jointly anchored by the aforementioned government-owned financial institutions to extend support to SMEs in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, auto components and others for technology upgradation, research and development, and business strategy, among others. - Businss Line 

🍒 With conglomerates reluctant, PEs may be better source of capital for banks : It’s been two weeks since the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) internal working committee (IWC) report proposed the idea of allowing business conglomerates to own banks. Criticisms have far outweighed acceptance, even prompting the RBI governor to distance himself from the proposal recently. Amid the debate, it would be pertinent to ask if corporations would be willing to participate in the banking sector any longer. Barely one out of the 22 that had evinced interest when bank licensing opened up in 2016 seemed enthused today. At least part of the reason could be the more stringent scrutiny that a banking licence would entail. A finer reading of the IWC’s recommendation suggests that India may adopt norms similar to the US Federal Reserve model, which regulates conglomerate-led banks in the country. The US Bank Holding Companies Act, established in 1956, was designed to tightly regulate banks floated by industrial houses. Under these regulations, every other business or subsidiary other than the banking operations (which is directly monitored by Federal Reserve) also falls under the Fed’s supervision, and is subject to dual regulations and scrutiny. “The bedrock principle is that don’t let commerce into banking, but it’s okay to allow banking into commerce,” says Jeff Berman, partner, financial services regulatory group, Clifford Chance US LLP, a top-tier US law firm. US industrial houses have stayed away from the banking business ever since the law came into force. - Business Standard

🍒 New business premium of life insurers decline 26.93% YoY in November : After witnessing growth in new business premiums (NBP) for four straight months starting from July, life insurance companies saw their NBP decline almost 27 per cent in November, with state owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) dragging the industry performance. In November, the NBP of the industry totaled Rs 19,159.31 crore, compared to Rs 26,221.24 crore in the same period last financial year (FY20). While private insurers saw their NBP decline 5.15 per cent to Rs 7,066.65 crore, LIC’s NBP declined more than 35 per cent to Rs 12,092.66 crore. In the same period last financial year, LIC had amassed NBP of Rs 18,770.56 crore. NBP is the premium acquired from new policies in a year. In the April – November period of FY21, NBP of life insurers declined by 1.5 per cent to Rs 1.66 trillion, as against Rs 1.69 trillion in the same period last financial year. LIC’s premium collection dropped 3.75 per cent to Rs 1.15 trillion from Rs 1.20 trillion in the same period but private insurers reported a growth of almost 4 per cent in NBP to Rs 51,004.23 crore, compared to Rs 49,078.27 crore. - Business Standard

🍒 HC seeks govt, RBI views on plea seeking regulation of Big Tech in finance : The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought response of the Centre, RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on a PIL seeking a detailed legal framework for regulating operations of techfin companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon in India's financial sector space. According to the petition filed by an economist, techfin entities are technology, telecommunications or e-commerce companies which have entered the financial sector to provide financial services and need to be regulated. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the ministries of finance and law as also Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NPCI, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) seeking their stand on the plea by Resmi P Bhaskaran - Business Standard

🍒 RBL Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance forge bancassurance partnership : RBL Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance on Wednesday entered into a bancassurance partnership to offer an array of life insurance products to the Bank's customers. This alliance will enable more than 87 lakh customers of RBL Bank to access and seamlessly purchase customer-centric protection and long-term savings products of the Company and provide financial security to themselves and their families. RBL Bank will distribute ICICI Prudential Life's products through its network of 398 branches spread across 28 states besides it's internet and mobile banking touch-points. - Live Mint

🍒 ICICI bank fraud: Drivers, gardeners were directors in Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot’s companies. They didn’t know, says ED : A charge sheet filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month in the ICICI Bank bribery scandal involving its former managing director Chanda Kochhar reveals how her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot had appointed drivers, gardeners, office boys, and other junior employees as dummy directors in their companies. Statements of these employees, which are now part of the charge sheet, were recorded by the ED. Some of them have claimed that they never even heard about the companies in which they were made directors. HT has seen the charge sheet, filed on November 3. The ED charge sheet says Kesharmal Nensukhlal Gandhi, who worked as a cleaner at Dhoot’s bungalow in Ahmednagar since 1994, was director in IRCL (Indian Refrigerator Company Ltd). He told ED that he was “neither aware about the company IRCL, nor aware about his directorship in IRCL and others. He was also unaware about transactions carried out by the company”. Gandhi told ED he used to sign documents on the directions of Dhoot and hadn’t attended any board meetings of the company. - hindustantimes

🍒 Cabinet approves Rs 22,810 crore outlay for Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 22,810 crore outlay for a new employment scheme that aims at encouraging businesses to do fresh hiring. Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana, the government will for two years provide employee and employer contribution to the retirement fund for new hires by businesses and entities, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said. The scheme would till 2023 entail an outgo of Rs 22,810 crore and would benefit around 58.5 lakh employees. - moneycontrol.

🍒 Rupee settles 3 paise higher at 73.57 against US dollar : The rupee strengthened by 3 paise and settled for the day at 73.57 against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities. Traders said weakening of the American currency in the overseas market also supported the local unit. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.58 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.49 and a low of 73.61. The local unit finally closed at 73.57 against the American currency, registering a rise of 3 paise over its previous close. 

🍒 Sensex hits new peak of 46,000 on FPI buying : Just three trading sessions after it hit 45,000-mark, the Sensex on Wednesday scaled a new peak of 46,000. Foreign portfolio investors kept up the momentum with net purchases of ₹3,564 crore.Sensex rose 1.09 per cent on Wednesday to close at 46,103. The broader index Nifty gained 1.02 per cent, or 136 points, at 13,529. Both the Sensex and Nifty have gained 80 per cent from the lows they hit in March due to the Covid crisis. 

🍒 Gold prices today fall sharply, silver rates tumble : Gold prices fell in Indian markets today as equity markets rallied across the world amid covid vaccine optimism. On MCX, February gold futures fell 0.8% to ₹49,691 per 10 gram while silver tumbled 1.4% to ₹64,251 per kg. Weighing on gold price is progress on vaccine front and weaker investor interest, say analysts. In the previous session, gold had ended 0.2% higher while silver had dipped 0.6%..

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