A special car loan package has been launched by Andhra Bank for limited period of time. The bank will offer car loan at special interest rates and concessional processing charges under this scheme. It has been christened as ‘New Year Car Campaign'.

The bank has slashed down the processing charges under the facility. The bank will charge an interest rate of 12.25% if the loan is borrowed for duration of less than 3 years....

Leading public sector lender, Punjab National Bank is laying out plans to mark presence in at least five overseas countries. The development can be expected to take place very soon.

The Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Mr. K. R. Kamath said, "Our board has cleared the bank's entry into Maldives. We are also looking at Singapore and Bangladesh. Surveys have also been done for countries like South Africa and Brazil."

The bank already has...

After serving at various position of responsibility at IDBI bank, Mr. B. K. Batra has now been appointed as Deputy Managing Director of the bank. He has been a part of the bank since 1983.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Managing Director he was working as Executive Director. He was also the Chairman of credit committee and systems and procedures.

Royal bank of Scotland, a UK based bank has announced to sack 3,500 employees in next 3 years. The decision is part of the business re-organization and shrinkage in the banking operations of the bank.

In a statement RBS said, "The actions announced today are outlined...will begin immediately, but may take up to three years to implement."

The Chief Executive of RBS, Mr. Stephen Hester said,"...It is clear that, particularly in the wholesale banking arena, significant...

Speculations are being made that in this monetary policy review the policy rates may be lowered. The largest lender in the country, State Bank of India has also acceded to it, which has further raised the hopes.

The Managing Director of SBI, Mr. A. Krishan Kumar said, "Possibly, I think RBI Governor has gone on record that there could be some softening of the policy measures in future. But what form of softening is to...

Private sector lender, Dhanlaxmi Bank has forayed in to the silver retailing business. Earlier last year the bank entered in to the wholesale business of silver.

Head, Insurance, Gold & Silver, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Mr. Deepak Singh said, "The launch of 'Dhan' silver bars has been prompted by the success of the bank's gold retailing business. With this launch, we foresee further traction and aim to become one of the leading players in the bullion business...

As the inflation rate has come down, a reversal of interest cycle is much expected. A pre-policy meeting is scheduled for today, to discuss various issued ahead of the monetary policy review due on 24th January.

In the meeting the banks are likely to put forward their opinion about lowering of policy rates. The meeting will be chaired by Subir Gokam, Deputy Governor of RBI.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, Mr. S. Raman said,...

Leading public sector lender, UCO Bank is planning to increase its branch count in Andhra Pradesh. The bank already has 66 branches in the state. The lender has plans about opening another 11 branches in the state.

At present there are 2,004 braches of the bank across the country. The bank also has 4 branches outside the country.

The Assistant General Manager, Mr. Khaleel Bhasha said that the bank has undergone several developments in last few...

A probable consortium of State Bank of India, Visa Inc and Elavon Inc could not take a concrete shape, for entering merchant acquiring business. Differences over the sharing of technology being the culprit of the outcome. The proposal about it was made in May 2010.

"The State bank of India has informed BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) that the bank has since cancelled the negotiations for establishing a joint venture entity with Visa Inc and Elavon...

ICICI Bank will very soon feature on social networking site, Facebook. ICICI Bank, which is the largest private sector lender in the country, plans to offer various facilities to its customers through the platform. Bank customer will also be allowed to access their bank accounts through it.

The bank strives to improve relation with its customers. Most of the companies and corporate houses across the world and in India as well are using social networking...

The largest public sector lender in the country, State Bank of India has announced completion of its share of villages in Andhra Pradesh. The villages were covered under Financial Inclusion Plan. Further, the bank has completed the task well before three months to the dead line.

Through the plan, government intends to extend basic banking facilities to the people residing in the rural and remote areas of the country. The scheme is implemented to the...

The portability system after being successfully implemented in the mobile and heath insurance space is soon expected to make its way in banking sector also. The government is already engaged with the Reserve Bank of India to study if it is feasible to introduce bank account number portability.

The system, if finds a concrete form will be very useful for the people who have to shift continuously to new locations. It would also enable customers to...

The Public sector Bank consortium has started putting orders for ATMs. Earlier, it was done on individual basis by the banks. The step will be beneficial for small lenders in particular. Around 40,000 ATMs are to be installed which would be properly distributed across the country.

Different banks will be given responsibility for the maintenance of ATMs in various zones. The vendor contract will be for a period of seven years. To be eligible for bidding,...

Union Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce, two well known public sector lenders will have new Chairman and Managing Director, as the present ones are set to retire in 2012.

Mr. D. Sarkar will assume the position of CMD at Union Bank of India in April. At present, he is serving at Allahabad Bank in the capacity of Executive Director. He will replace Mr. M. V. Nair.

Oriental Bank of Commerce will have...

The unprecedented fluctuation in the currency and equity market has impelled the Union Government to develop an early-warning system. A meeting was held recently, to discuss the structural issues about forming a Crisis Management Team. The meeting was chaired by Mr. R. Gopalan, Secretary in the department of economic affairs.

The committee will keep a track on the economic situation. It will keep the Government prepared in situation of crises and to tackle in best possible...

The credit approval limit for the public sector lenders has been increased fourfolds by the Government. The limit earlier was Rs. 100 crore which has now been increased to Rs. 400 crore.

A credit approval committee has been asked to set up to the banks by the government. Chairman, Executive Directors and three chief General Managers are to be the part of this committee.

The 400 crore limit is defined only for the Category ‘A' banks. For...

Bank of Maharashtra has announced the launch of Mahabank Gram Seva Kendras (MGSKs), to aid the reachout of banking amenities to rural areas. The project has been launched on pilot basis by the lender.

The MGSKs have been launched in villages in Raigad, Thane, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Pune and Satara districts. Under this project, villagers will be offered banking facilities at their doorstep. For the purpose, the bank staff will visit these villages.

The days will be...

To promote mobile banking facility, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to dissolve the upper limit of transaction from the facility. The banks can now set individual upper limit for the transactions on their own.

Till now a customer was allowed to transact upto Rs. 50,000 per day through this facility. The facility is operated by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

It is expected that Mobile Banking facility will soon be used for merchant...

The apex bank has identified 6,063 villages in Andhra Pradesh where the Banking Correspondents are to be appointed. The introduction of Banking Correspondents in financial Inclusion Plan has already termed vital by Mr. D. Subbarao, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India.

"Ernakulam district of Kerala has completed financial inclusion 100 per cent and in Andhra Pradesh, East Godavari district will be made a fully financially inclusion district very shortly," said Mr. D. Subbarao.

RBI has set...

Majority of the population in the country resides in rural areas and despite being a rapidly developing economy the a lot of people here are still devoid of banking facilities. To make banking facilities accessible in remote areas of the country, government launched Financial Inclusion Plan.

About this Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said, "Financial inclusion is an important policy of the government not as an important instrument of socio-economic development but if you want to...