The private sector lender, Standard Chartered India will be soon acquiring the Indian wealth management unit of Morgan Stanley. However, the acquisition is subjected to regulatory approvals.

Standard Chartered India said in a statement, "Standard Chartered India has agreed to acquire Morgan Stanley's onshore private wealth management business here. The acquisition complements our existing private banking onshore business and will significantly increase our private banking AUM here".

Currently, StanC has around 30 per cent of its private banking...

Bangalore-based lender, Canara Bank got nod from the Reserve Bank of India to open new branches in abroad soon.

Mr. R K Dubey, Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank said, "We have got approval from the Reserve Bank of India to open branches in New York, Tokyo, Nigeria, Tanzania, Brazil and Jeddah and are working on modalities to open them soon".

The bank also got a licence to open a branch in Johannesburg in South Africa and...

The state-owned lender, Jammu & Kashmir Bank reported a 20 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 250 crore for its fourth quarter.

The bank had recorded a net profit of Rs 208.1 crore in the same period of the previous financial year, J&K Bank said.

Total income of the bank grew Rs 1,835.71 crore in January-March quarter as compared to Rs 1,479.81 crore in the same period during the previous fiscal.

For the entire fiscal, the...

The Bangalore-based public sector bank, Syndicate Bank has drawn up a strategy to lower its bad loans by at least 20 per cent this financial year.

Mr. M. Anjaneya Prasad, Executive Director of Syndicate bank said, "We are implementing stressed tiny assets recovery programmes, besides offering one-time settlements by conducting ‘Synd Adalats' every quarter to reduce NPAs by 20 per cent this year".

Syndicate bank's gross and net NPA levels fell in the financial year ended March 31,...

The public sector lender, Corporation Bank will be conducting rural expos across the country to boost its agricultural credit portfolio during the month.

Mr. Ajai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation bank said that the bank wants to create village level awareness on various products and services through such expos.

Mr. Kumar added that each zone of the bank will be conducting a minimum of 10 rural expos. The bank has proposed to conduct more than 300...

The public sector lender, Punjab National Bank net profit declined 20.6 per cent to Rs 1131 crore against Rs 1424 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

PNB's higher provisioning towards non-performing assets and a conscious strategy to keep a tight leash on balance sheet was weighed down the net profit.

The net profit of the entire financial year 2012-13 dipped 2.8 per cent to Rs 4748 crore against Rs 4884 crore of the previous fiscal.

For the current...

Asset finance company, Magma Fincorp Ltd recorded a 84 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 46 crore for the fourth quarter which ended on March 31, 2013. Net profit stood at Rs 25 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

On a sequential basis, Kolkata-based company's profits grew by nearly 21 per cent from Rs 38 crore during the third quarter which ended in December 31, 2012.

Income from operations grew by 58 per...

The public sector lender, Allahabad Bank reported 68 per cent dip in net profit at Rs 126 crore for the fourth quarter which ended on March 31, 2013, on account of higher provisioning for non-performing assets and decline in core income.

During the quarter, Allahabad bank added fresh slippages worth Rs 2,586 crore. Provisioning rose by 28 per cent to Rs 641 crore, of which, NPA provisions stood at Rs 513 crore.

According to Mrs. Shubhalakshmi Panse,...

Women Self Help Groups will be provided with low interest loans across the country under a central programme launched to absolutely eradicate poverty from the villages through women empowerment.

The Union Cabinet has approved the provision of interest subvention to Women Self Help Groups operating under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) which will allow women to avail loans up to Rs 3 lakh at an interest rate of 7 per cent per annum.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Rural...

The Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to open more branches in rural areas this year. Banks which exceed the targeted number of branches in rural areas in a year will be allowed to carry forward the additional number to the next financial year.

According to the existing annual branch expansion plan norms, banks have to open 25 per cent of their new branches in unbanked rural areas.

Those banks crossing the 25 per cent annual...

The public sector lender, Kotak Mahindra Bank posted an increase in net profit by 47 per cent in the January- March quarter of financial year 2012-13. The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 297 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Net interest income increased by 31 per cent to Rs 903 crore from Rs 688 crore in corresponding quarter of 2012-13. Other income during the fourth quarter rose 43 per cent to Rs 364 crore.

Kotak Mahindra's...

State Bank of India's subsidiary, State Bank of Travancore has introduced a new loan product designed to support unskilled labourers who are being forced to return from Saudi Arabia.

According to Mr. P Nanada Kumaran, Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore, the new loan will provide financial assistance for starting ventures in the agricultural, manufacturing, services and trading sectors.

The project cost should not exceed Rs 20 lakh, Mr. Kumaran said while addressing the annual press...

Non-banking financial company, Bajaj Finserv will now offer loan against securities on its online platform.

According to Bajaj Finserv Lending, an applicant with a current securities portfolio of minimum Rs 45 lakh will be eligible to apply and depending on the quality of portfolio, the eligibility will be processed.

The loan is targeted at self-employed individuals, salaried professionals and small and medium enterprises. The company will offer online processing and loan approval after evaluating the primary data,...

The country's private sector lender, ICICI Bank posted increase in net profit by 21 per cent at Rs 2304 crore in the fourth quarter which ended on March 31, 2013. Stable loan growth and higher margins helped to boost up the net profit.

The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 1902 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Net interest income rose by 22 per cent to Rs 3,803 crore as compared to Rs...

The private sector lender, Axis Bank posted a 22 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,555 crore in the January-March quarter with the help of higher interest income and stable loan growth.

The country's third largest private bank had posted a net profit of Rs 1,277 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Net interest income (the difference between interest earned and expended) increased by 24 per cent during the quarter at Rs 2,665 crore. ‘Other income'...

The Reserve Bank of India has clarified that there is no transactional evidence of money laundering found in the top three private sector banks i.e. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis bank involved in the Cobrapost expose.

"In none of their branches there was a case of money laundering... No transaction has taken place," said Mr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI.

Mr. Chakrabarty also said that the regulator was examining changing the way business...

According to Mr. Pratip Chaudhuri, Chairman of State Bank of India, sliding gold prices will not have much impact on SBI's gold loan portfolio, which currently stands at Rs 35,000 crore.

Gold loans have been taken majorly by farmers for agriculture purposes. Generally, the bank has been lending only up to 70 per cent of the peak value of the gold. "We have the security of the crop or farm. Generally, we keep 30 per cent...

Country's largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank will auction pledged gold jewellery weighing 11 kg, pledged by more than 150 borrowers, who have defaulted on their payments.

The auction would be conducted by the ICICI bank's branches in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand from April 18-22, 2013 for gold jewellery deposited by about over 150 customers as collateral for their loans, the bank said in a public notice last week.

While neither the exact value of the gold...

The public sector lender, Karnataka Bank has got the ‘ISO 27001:2005' certificate for its three IT (information technology) units.

A press release from the Karnataka bank said that NQA (National Quality Assurance) - an assessment, verification and certification body accredited to the United Kingdom Accreditation Service - has awarded the ISO 27001:2005 certificate of registration to Karnataka Bank's three IT units. Two of them are located in Bangalore, and one in Mangalore.

The release said that ISO27001:2005...

Public sector lender, Union Bank of India will be soon recruiting 336 specialist credit officers, according to advertisement given by the bank.

Under its recruitment drive, Union bank has notified about 349 vacancies in the specialist officers' category with 336 for the position of credit officers and two positions for the economists, according to a notification on the bank's website.

The bank's online registration for application ends on April 23.