Breaking

Showing posts with label Bank Of Baroda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bank Of Baroda. Show all posts

Saturday, 6 April 2019

08:01

Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank to be injected with Rs. 5000 crore

Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank to be injected with Rs. 5000 crore

Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank to be injected with Rs. 5000 crore
The Bank of Baroda may get Rs 5,000 capital infusion from the Finance Ministry ahead of its united operations as a merged entity along with the Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank from April 1, 2019. In February, the government approved Rs 48,239-crore recap bonds in 12 PSBs. 
The latest recap bonds broadly fall into four categories: 
a) equipping better-performing PCA (prompt corrective action) banks to be above regulatory PCA thresholds to help them come out of the framework (Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, who have already come out of the PCA);
b) Non-PCA banks that are close to the red line to ensure they don't fall into PCA (Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Syndicate Bank and Andhra Bank);
c) PCA banks that have exited PCA to remain above PCA triggers (Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra);
d) And other PCA banks that need to meet minimum regulatory capital norms (Central Bank, United Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank). 
The government has so far pumped Rs 1.90 lakh crore into PSBs since it announced the recapitalisation plan in October 2017. The Finance Ministry has kept around Rs 5,000 crore as buffer for any last-minute contingency, for possible infusion into the merged entity of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. The merger will create India's third largest bank with a total business of over Rs 14.82 lakh crore. When the three banks are merged, the combined entity's capital adequacy ratio will be at 12.25 per cent, with tier-1 capital at 9.32 per cent and net non-performing assets at 5.71 per cent. The merged entity will have nearly 9,500 branches. 
Sources said the capital may be infused as Dena Bank is a weak PCA bank and it should not drag down the the overall balancesheet of the Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda on regulatory capital breach when they start operations from April 1 and also for lendings. MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda P.S. Jaykumar may head the merged entity, the sources added.
The government in September 2018 announced the merger of state-owned Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with larger Public Sector Bank (PSB) Bank of Baroda to create the third largest lender after SBI and ICICI Bank in the country. The merger plan got the Union Cabinet's nod in January. It was part of the government's strategy to promote consolidation in the sector marred by loads of non-performing assets (NPAs). However, this is the first three-way merger in the public sector banking space.
According to UFBU the merger of the Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank is "unwarranted" and will surely result in closure of branches.

Source:AIPNBSF

Saturday, 22 April 2017

07:53

SUBMISSION OF DOMICILIARY CLAIMS UNDER INSURANCE POLICY

SUBMISSION OF DOMICILIARY CLAIMS UNDER INSURANCE POLICY
NOTICE BASED ON INPUTS RECEIVED FROM UNITED INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY Received on 20-12-2016
We refer to above and reproduce below the modalities/ received from Insurance Company for submission of claims.
Claim form for Hospitalization is to be used for Domiciliary Treatment claims also. Claims under Domiciliary treatment for employees shall be on a monthly basis and for a particular month the same should be submitted to TPA on or before 15th of the succeeding month.
For Retirees it may be send to the TPAs Central Office or Local Office or if Banks decide so it may be send to Banks BO/RO/ZO who in turn to send to TPAs Office.
FOR OUR BANK, WE HAVE TAKEN A DECISION THAT CLAIMS OF RETIREES ALSO WILL BE SUBMITTED TO MEDICALINSURANCE CELL, HEAD OFFICE, BARODA
Prescriptions: - All domiciliary claims are to be supported with original prescriptions.
The validity of the prescriptions where time limits are not stated is 90 days from the date of issuance of prescription.
In case of prescriptions where the time limit is more than twelve months and for lifelong medicines, a re-validation shall be made on or before 12 months from the date of its issue
Self attested photo copies of prescriptions shall be accepted provided original is already submitted and stands within the above mentioned time limit. When photocopies are submitted a mention in the claim form having the original already
submitted (with month in which it was submitted) may be made for smooth processing.
FURTHER COMMUNICATION RECEIVED FROM UNITED INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY
This is further to communication dated 20/12/2016 on the above captioned Subject
The Original prescriptions and doctor’s letter are to be submitted wherever and
whenever it is possible. However If the employee requires the original prescriptions/doctor's letter for valid reasons photocopies shall be accepted subject to the following:-
1. In the photocopy of the prescription/doctor's letter, the employee has to declare the
reason for his retention and to sign.
2. It is to be attested as true copy by Banks Branch Head in Branches, Department Heads
in ZO/HO, or GMC Nodal Officer of the Bank at HO under proper Name, Designation and
Office Seal.
3. The prescriptions must specify the name of the disease/diagnosis. If it is not mentioned
on the prescriptions, the separate certificate or letter from the doctor is required.
Reiterate that the attestation shall be done under Name, Designation, office seal of
the Bank Official and without this the copies are invalid.

R N JANI
HEAD HR OPERATIONS
HEAD OFFICE
BARODA
10-01-2017

Wednesday, 19 April 2017

08:19

After SBI merger, now Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda may take over smaller lenders

After SBI merger, now Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda may take over smaller lenders

NEW DELHI: The government is working on a road map for the overhaul of state-run lenders that involves the next round of consolidation, public offers in the next few months by banks to raise fresh capital, and changes in the hiring policy, including increased lateral entry. This could see Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda taking over smaller lenders, said a senior finance ministry official. 

The government is actively looking at candidates for consolidation with the Prime Minister’s Office keen on having a few large banks rather than several smaller ones, he said. “We may start with some low-hanging fruit. For example, Punjab & Sind Bank can be merged into Punjab National Bank. Big lenders like Bank of Baroda can take over some turnaround banks in the southern region, like Indian Overseas Bank,” the official said, adding that various permutations and combinations are being discussed. The banks couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. 

No decision has been made as yet and these plans are only at the proposal stage. 

This comes as the finance ministry is working closely with the Reserve Bank of India to address non-performing assets. Last week, RBI had unveiled stricter norms under the revised prompt corrective action framework, which may force lenders to consolidate in case they don’t meet the regulatory requirements. 

“Primarily, we are only going to be matchmakers, but, yes, if RBI feels that such action is necessitated in terms of regulatory requirements, we may act accordingly,” said the official cited above, hinting that the government will also suggest options to the lenders. 

“All these plans are fluid, as we also need to take clearances from the Competition Commission, as followed in the case of Bharatiya Mahila Bank and SBI merger,” he said. 

State Bank of India absorbed five associate lenders and Bharatiya Mahila Bank earlier this month, boosting India's No. 1 bank’s financial muscle. 


The government will push large state-owned lenders to tap the markets this fiscal, another government official said. “Under the Indradhanush road map, banks were to raise Rs 1.8 lakh crore from the markets for capitalisation,” he said. “We expect large banks to explore that route.” 

That money will be needed as the government has allocated just Rs 10,000 crore toward capital infusion in banks this fiscal. 

Indradhanush is a seven pronged revamp plan for state-run banks that the government announced in 2015. 

It included a programme to deal with bad debt and called for capital infusion to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore till FY19. 

The government will also push seven public sector banks — United Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India among them — to tap the markets in the next five months to meet the 25% public shareholding norm. 

The government is also looking to allow lateral entry in banks and will work closely with the Banks Board Bureau to reform the human resource structure at the state-owned lenders. 

The latest development appears to be a broader plan than the one that Banks Board Bureau chief Vinod Rai alluded to in an interview with Reuters last month. He had suggested that “two large Mumbaibased banks” could potentially merge in the current financial year.

Friday, 10 February 2017

08:04

NPCI expects all public sector banks to join BHIM by February-end

NPCI expects all public sector banks to join BHIM by February-end

New Delhi: With the aim to scale up the usage of Bharat Interface for Money or BHIM, the National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) is working to ensure that all the public sector banks (PSBs) are integrated to the app by the end of this month.

“The PSBs which will go live very soon on the platform are Corporation Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank and five associates of State Bank of India. We are working with these seven banks to ensure that all of them are a part of the platform by the end of this month,” said A. P. Hota, managing director & chief executive officer, NPCI, in a statement.

Currently, 37 banks are already integrated to BHIM including PSBs like State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India. With the seven banks joining the platform very soon, all the PSBs will be a part of BHIM’s interface.

“Since the customer base of PSBs is very large, their participation in BHIM is of crucial importance for the success of this app. We are confident that once all PSBs are a part of BHIM, the user base will jump multiple times,” said Hota.

The app was launched on December 30 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote digital transactions using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a bank-to-bank fund transfer system backed by internet and smartphones, using phone numbers linked to banks.

According to NPCI, till 31 January, 13.8 million customers downloaded the app out of which 3.6 million customers have linked the app to their bank account.

“The gap in the number of app downloads and the number of customers linking the app to their bank account has been because it is observed that most of these customers have downloaded BHIM without checking if their bank is active on the platform,” the statement added.

Last month, a new version 1.2 was launched with additional features like ‘Pay to Aadhaar Number’, and spam report’. The new version also has seven new languages apart from English and Hindi.

Source:BusinessFortnight

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

18:15
Morgan Stanley downgrades Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank

Indian banks are unlikely to see a slowdown in bad debt formation this fiscal as they will continue to be impacted by a weak economy, a struggling corporate sector, and the Reserve Bank of India's intention to clean bank balance sheets, Morgan Stanley has said.
The US investment bank on Monday downgraded private sector ICICI Bank and public sector Bank of Baroda (BoB) to so-called equal weight because of expectations that these banks will have to provide more money to cover for non-performing assets (NPAs) in the current and next fiscal year.
Equal weight means investors should detest from accumulating these stocks, but may hold on to their existing investment.
"BoB has made good progress in cleaning its balance sheet, but we think profitability will take time to pick up," Morgan Stanley analysts Sumeet Khariwala and Subramanian Iyer said in a note on Monday .
Morgan Stanley said it prefers lenders with a high retail base, but among banks with a corporate focus Yes Bank and Axis Bank are better off because of a minimum impact from RBI's asset quality review (AQR), in which banks were directed to recognise some standard loans as bad.
"We agree FY16 level was high, causing many banks to become loss-making; we estimate the banks we cover reported 4.5% of loans as new NPLs (around `2 lakh crore). FY16 was tough, yet we don't expect FY17 to be close to a normalised year. We expect FY17 NPL formation to stay elevated at around 3% of loans as economy remains weak implying corporate profitability will stay weak," the Morgan Stanley note said.

Friday, 8 April 2016

22:05

Bank Board Bureau's 1st meet today: What's on agenda?

Bank Board Bureau's 1st meet today: What's on agenda?

The newly appointed Bank Board Bureau, headed by former CAG Vinod Rai, will hold its first meeting today in Mumbai.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan along with the Minister of State of Finance Jayant Sinha are also expected to be a part of the meeting to discuss the revamping strategies for seven public sector banks.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Leo Puri, Managing Director of UTI Asset Management and Usha Thorat, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, threw light on what could be the agenda of the meet.
The experts say that the bureau has primarily three tasks to complete- governance, capitalisation, improving industry structure.
The sequence of these three tasks matter, said Puri, adding that some steps have been taken in each direction.
Puri added that the board should look at strengthening the governance first and then shift focus to capitalisation and then consolidation. However, he maintained that given the urgency of the situation and the limited fiscal capacity, the government looks inclined towards exploring the industry structure first.
Usha Thorat believes that BBB should fill up all the empty seats in most of these banks by bringing in people at the director level and and complete the appointment of chairman and non-ex chairman, along with optimising leadership skills and human resorces.
Below is the verbatim transcript of Leo Puri and Usha Thorat’s interview with Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.

Sonia: What is the best way in your assessment for the bureau to go about the revamping of the public sector banks?

Puri: I think the bureau has three tasks broadly. There is governance, capitalisation and consolidation if you like or improving industry structure. I think the issue that I assume they will discuss today in terms of priorities is in what sequence does it make sense to actually achieve these goals. I think as of now you can see that there has been some steps taken in each direction, little bit of governance improvement, little bit of capitalisation and some talk of consolidation.

Ideally, of course you would want to if in a perfect world, work to first strengthen governance and then essentially think about capitalisation and industry structure would follow. However, given the urgency of the situation that we have and given the limited fiscal capacity and the limited ability of the market to support capitalisation, the government appears inclined to seriously explore industry structure as the first step. So, it will be interesting to see how that sequencing actually plays out today.

Latha: How would you put the sequencing, what should be the priority for Bank Board Bureau (BBB)?

Thorat: I sort of feel also with Leo Puri that normally the governance structure, the capitalisation and then looking at the overall structure would have been a more logical sequencing. However, it is not necessary to do it exactly one after the other, the thought processes can go on simultaneously. So, I feel that there are vacancies currently in many of the individual bank board’s which I think the priority of the BBB should be clearly to fill those up because they are hampering the operations of the banks.

I think even despite all the consolidation, ultimately these things do take time; consolidation is not an overnight process. So, in the interregnum you are going to have these banks functioning. So, I feel it is extremely essential to strengthen the banks boards, bring in some professionals at the director level, finish the appointment of the CEO or the Managing Director wherever they are necessary and complete the non-ex chairman appointment. I think that is clearly to me a priority.

Secondly, as far as the infusion of capital is concerned and that is where the concern comes from and that is where what is driving this whole consolidation is because it does sort of seem to -- capital is scarce, capital is costly and it is necessary to conserve capital and currently you have a huge amount of duplication, overlapping. What is more, you have to optimise the leadership and the human resource skills also which are quite in short supply. After all leadership skills are not so available in banking and having them over 19 banks is a tough call and all kinds of wasteful competition amongst banks.

So, this is what Narasimham Committee was had suggested way back and I think it has just been delayed. So, the other argument, I am not getting into argument of consolidation but I do feel that the urgency given to consolidation, the seriousness with which government is setting about it, I think is important.

Sonia: From a stock market point of view, there is a bit of concern about what the impact or the damage from the write downs will have to be that some of the larger banks will have to take as and when they take over the smaller bleeding PSU banks. In your mind what could the impact be, I am not trying to put any number to it but how damaging could it be?

Thorat: I think in any consolidation it is important that the merged unit is stronger than the sum of the individual units put together. It has happened and we have the case of the IDBI as well in India where the merged unit lost its strength. So, it is very important that it won’t pull down what are the already relatively stronger banks within the system.

Now, you might ask me there are signs of weaknesses in all the banks so which ones can you say are relatively stronger. However, for that we have to go over systematically, the weakness, because some of the banks have got better credit underwriting systems as a systemic thing and some have definitely been on the weak bank list for ages. So, somewhere we have to take the concept of a narrow bank and let the weak banks which have got inherent weaknesses really shrink. Therefore the capital should be really deployed in the banks which have, I would not be able to say but certainly have seem to have done better with the capital.

So, it is very important I feel in capital infusion and consolidation that is the reason why the government is I think thinking of it together. However, it doesn’t happen overnight and in the meantime you have to give a direction to the banks. So, I think that is where the struggle and the challenge is.

Latha: You correctly pointed to the example of IDBI Bank where the erstwhile IDBI Bank actually was a strong fellow who got swamped into the larger one which had more problems. Therefore, would you expect that the Bank Board Bureau should allow some of the smaller PSU banks to simply become what they call niche banks, just squeeze out capital till they turnaround and not poison a bigger bank with them?

Thursday, 10 March 2016

18:41

State-run banks mull Employee Stock Options Plan (ESOP) to retain employees

State-run banks mull Employee Stock Options Plan (ESOP) to retain employees

State-run lenders like Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank are planning to offer stock options to staff in a bid to retain top talent. This assumes significance in the backdrop of the imminent entry of 21 new niche banks which have been granted licences by the RBI to begin operations, as well as the prospect of a clutch of mid-management professionals reaching retirement age soon.

IDBI Bank:
For instance, IDBI Bank, which has started to transform itself by realigning its business, has also drawn a roadmap for human resources. The lender, which is planning to increase the employee strength to 21,500 by March 31, 2019 from the 15,500 at present, is not only working out a scheme for career progression but also mulling an employee stock option plan (ESOP) to incentivise them, said Kishor Kharat, MD and CEO, IDBI Bank.

Bank of Baroda:
Bank of Baroda MD and CEO P.S. Jayakumar said the bank was considering an ESOP for its employees which could bridge the compensation gap between public and private sector employees. “In general, at a lower level, public sector institutions pay better than their counterparts. But while progressively going up (in the rank), there is a gap that is arising and at a senior level, the gap really becomes unmanageable,” Mr. Jayakumar said. The board had already approved the ESOP. Now, the bank will write to the government for its approval. “We need to create a variable incentive system without creating perverse economic interests. If we can get an ESOP plan, then, at least it will cover some part of the gap,” Mr. Jayakumar said.

Most banks plan to offer stock options to their employees in the rank of assistant general manager and above.

State Bank of India:
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, had floated the idea of ESOP for its employees some time ago. However, the proposal is still awaiting government’s approval. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said recently that the government was actively discussing the proposal for Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for public sector bank employees. “The government is considering (the proposal of ESOP for bank employees). It is in a very advanced stage. It has been a long-standing demand and is (under) active consideration,” Mr. Jaitley said at Gyan Sangam, the annual retreat for bankers, last week.

Public sector banks are facing headwinds on the human resources front as many mid-management officers are retiring over the next five years, prompting the central bank to term it a ‘retirement decade.’ In addition, the 21 new banks, which have received differentiated licences from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will try to poach employees from existing banks. In August-September last year, RBI has granted licences to 11 payment banks and 10 small finance banks to start operations. While these banks were given 18 months’ time to roll out services, most of these entities are expected to start operations in 2016.


Tuesday, 16 February 2016

07:22

Bank of Baroda forex scam: RBI finds irregularities in bank's transactions

Bank of Baroda forex scam: RBI finds irregularities in bank's transactions

Various irregularities by banks such as non-submission and inordinate delays in filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), besides opening of accounts by several entities without fulfilling KYC norms, have been noticed by Reserve Bank of India.

The observation came as part of inspection done by the central bank after last year's Bank of Baroda case in which Rs 6,100-crore import remittances were effected by its Ashok Vihar branch here.

Both CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are probing the huge remittances to Hong Kong from the bank. The amount was allegedly transferred in the garb of payments for imports that never took place, investigators say.

After the BoB case, RBI wrote a confidential letter to chairmen and chief executives of all commercial banks asking them to review existing policies and effect necessary improvements where warranted to avoid recurrence of such irregularities.

"While some banks have filed Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) and STRs with Financial Intelligence Unit in time, in several cases either the CTRs or STRs were not filed or filed with inordinate delay or closed at the bank level without proper verification and regard to frequency of reporting in such accounts.

"Current accounts have been opened by several entities with banks, often even without fulfilling the KYC requirements. Several instances of banks not exercising proper due diligence have come to our notice," it said in the letter, copy of which was received in reply to an RTI query filed by PTI.

After observing some of the transactions of select banks, RBI found that risk categorisation of accounts as well as transaction processes was not done in a proper way.
"Advance import remittances have been permitted without verifying the bonafide of transactions and without carrying out proper due diligence of both the Indian clients as well as overseas suppliers, despite clear instructions in this regard from Foreign Exchange Department, RBI," it said.

Several structured remittances in the range of USD 80,000 -99,900 have been made by the same account holder very frequently from select authorised dealer branches, the central bank said.

It added: "In many banks neither the concurrent auditors nor the internal auditors could find out irregularities in such a large scale, raising questions about the scope, coverage and capability of the internal control mechanisms.

"What was more disquieting was the fact that the abnormal spurt in import transactions in these branches vis-a-vis the performance in previous periods has not caught the attention of the controlling or head office of the bank."

Considering the "scale and spread of such transactions", banks were advised to immediately initiate a detailed internal audit of Authorised Dealers branches where such remittances have gone up significantly during the past two to three years.

"The scope of audit also may cover the current accounts with huge number of inward or outward Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) transactions, not in sync with the declared turnover or business, KYC processes followed etc," it said.

In reply to the RTI application, RBI has said that it is in the process of receiving the internal audit report from various banks.

Source:BankingUpdates

Saturday, 16 January 2016

19:49

Implementation of digital signed pension revision authorities in all banks.

Implementation of digital signed pension revision authorities in all banks.

Finmin order for Implementation of digital signed pension revision authorities in all banks

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE
CENTRAL PENSION ACCOUNTING OFFICE
TRIKOOT-II, BHIKAJI CAMA PLACE,

NEW DELHI-110066
PHONES : 26174596, 26174456, 26174438

CPAO/Tech/e-PPO/2015-16

Dated 11.01.2016

Office Memorandum

Subject: Implementation of digital signed pension revision authorities in all banks.

After the implementation of paperless movement of digitally signed e-Revision authorities with four banks i.e. SB1, Chandani Chowk, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, paper authorities for these four banks have been dispensed with. In the meeting held with eight major banks on 05.11.2015, it was decided to roll out e-revision authorities for all remaining banks w.e.f. 01.01.2016 along with parallel run of physical authorities for one month.

In this context all remaining banks were earlier already advised to complete their preparatory work and other formalities by the end of July, 2015 vide this office OM No. CPAO/Tech/e-PP0/2015-16/440-511 dated 03.07.2015. It is expected that all the banks are ready to accept the digitally signed e- authorities received from CPAO.

In respect of the 14 CPPCs of SB1 pilot run has been over and physical movement of papers have been stopped w.e.f. 01.01.2016.

For remaining 25 banks the trial run will be effective from 01.02.2016 to 15.02.2016. during this period physical authorities will also be sent to the CPPCs parallel with electronically authorities. With effect from 16.02.2016 sending of physical authorities to CPPCs to remaining banks will also be stopped.

All Heads of Government Account Departments and CPPCs of the all the authorised banks are requested to ensure the implementation of e-Revision authorities as per schedule indicated above. All the Heads of CPPCs are requested to alert their Technical teams for making necessary provisions in their software, if not already done.

Source:Govemployees

Wednesday, 23 December 2015

18:20

Bank of Baroda fraud: How the masterminds pocketed Rs 100 cr via illegal remittance

Bank of Baroda fraud: How the masterminds pocketed Rs 100 cr via illegal remittance

The masterminds of illegal remittances racket operating through Bank of Baroda were allegedly charging Rs 1.35 for every dollar sent abroad from people who wanted to use their services.

The CBI investigation into over Rs 6,000 crore transfer (about $100 crore) to Hong Kong and Dubai through BoB Ashok Vihar Branch has indicated that the master operators were charging this premium by offering their channel to send the money outwards, the agency's chargesheet alleged.

The CBI has filed its chargesheet which reveal that nearly $100 crore were transferred from India to Hong Kong and Dubai using proper banking channel by evading the scrutiny of banking software which red flags every transaction above $one lakh.

Sources said the agency has mentioned in its chargesheet that masterminds of the racket were allegedly distributing the fee of Rs 1.35 per dollar among themselves with even the lowest rung of the gang (which were alleged account holders) made Rs 25-40 lakh in one year period from July 2014-July 2015.

"The lower rung of the gang was given 20-25 paisa per dollar transferred and during the one-year period they have made about Rs 25-40 lakh by transferring funds through banking channels," an official said.

The sources said similarly the parties in Hong Kong and Dubai to whom the money was allegedly being transferred made over Rs 35-60 lakh in commission from the well-oiled machinery which was being run.

CBI had registered a case against 59 current account holders and unknown bank officials and private persons on a complaint from Bank of Baroda.

Source:BankingUpdates

Monday, 19 October 2015

11:11

HDFC Bank suspends official involved in Bank of Baroda scam

HDFC Bank suspends official involved in Bank of Baroda scam

Amid the alleged involvement of HDFC Bank official Kamal Kalra in the Rs 6,000-crore illegal remittances, the private sector bank has suspended Kalra pending the investigation.
The scam involves Rs 6,000 crore illegal remittances that have suspected to be flown out from Bank of Baroda's Ashok Vihar branch in New Delhi to Hong Kong and Dubai.

In a statement, HDFC Bank said, “The bank has a zero-tolerance policy for any misconduct on the part of its staff and any deviation from its clearly defined processes is viewed very seriously. Swift action is taken both at an organizational and employee level, and as per process the employee in question has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.”

”In response to reports relating to investigations against one of our employees, we would like to state that the matter is being examined internally on top priority. The Bank is also extending its full cooperation and support to the authorities as they conduct their investigations,” the statement further adds.
As per the investigation so far, both Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate have arrested six persons including Kalra, who is HDFC Bank’s Forex Sales Manager in the forex department, for the alleged money laundering.

While CBI arrested Suresh Kumar Garg, the assistant general manager of Ashok Vihar Branch and Jainis Dubey, the foreign exchange head, the persons arrested by the Enforcement Directorate include Kamal Kalra, Chandan Bhatia, Gurucharan Singh and Sanjay Aggarwal, who were allegedly involved in the transaction of 15 accounts.
Bhatia, Singh and Aggarwal are said to be owners of companies based in Hong Kong and Dubai towards which the money was being transferred through 59 accounts at the bank's Ashok Vihar branch.

Meanwhile, Bank of Baroda’s internal investigation had detected irregularities in foreign exchange transfers from said branch and also suspended five officers. The public sector bank has also changed the concurrent auditor firm of the specific branch.

“The investigation currently underway pertains to 59 current accounts, which were opened during the period between May 13, 2014 to June 20, 2015 and were used for outward foreign remittance transactions aggregating to $576 million (Rs 3,672.30 crore) predominantly for the purpose as “Advance remittance for imports” to overseas parties numbering about 418, mainly based in Hong Kong,” Bank of Baroda had said on Tuesday.

“It is pertinent to note that less than 10 per cent (Rs 343 crore) of the amount involved had been deposited in these accounts by way of cash and balance 90 per cent amount had been received through RTGS / NEFT from 51 different banks. Bank would also like to clarify that while the investigations are underway, at the current stage, it does not envisage significant financial losses on account of this incident,” it added.

There are many unanswered questions which continue to be probed, such as opening of current accounts in spite of inconclusive KYC process in some cases, individual failure of detection of irregularities, non-follow up of system alerts to track exceptional transactions and reasons for the long lead time to identify these irregularities.

The newly appointed MD & CEO, P.S. Jayakumar said, “My utmost priority is to examine the current situation and bring about the necessary changes within the bank to ensure such unfortunate incidents do not recur. This will include the appointment of an external accounting firm for full review of our KYC norms and its effectiveness across all branches…”

Friday, 16 October 2015

08:09

Forex scam traced to HDFC Bank Accounts

Forex scam traced to HDFC Bank Accounts

Investigative agencies have traced the Rs.6,000-crore money laundering scam involving Bank of Baroda (BoB) to 11 accounts of HDFC Bank, where the fraud might have actually commenced. More arrests of those involved in the case, besides six made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), are expected in the coming days. The investigative agencies have found that the transactions through the 11 HDFC Bank accounts started way back in January, 2014, while those from BoB began sometime in August that year.

The amounts were transferred from HDFC Bank to BoB for making advanced remittances for imports that never took place. Meanwhile, ED is also investigating whether HDFC Bank accounts were used to make foreign transfers. "This is just one chain involving 26 accounts of HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda. There are three or four more such chains, but the game is the same of over-claiming duty drawback and evading customs duty. More searches will take place in the coming days," said a finance ministry official
.
ED is expected to investigate the employees of HDFC bank's Netaji Subhash Place branch in New Delhi and has already arrested its employee Kamal Kalra, who worked at the bank's forex department and facilitated illegal transactions. Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transfers were, however, made through many other banks as well. "Banks would per se not be involved in case of RTGS, but it has brought to light how weak the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms are," said the finance ministry official.

The department of financial services is expected to instruct banks to tighten the implementation of KYC norms. Bank of Baroda has contended that only 6.7 per cent (Rs 343 crore) of the Rs 6,000 crore was deposited in cash in the bank, while the remaining Rs 4,808 crore came through other banking channels. "The question is not how money has come, but is sending money abroad illegally, from where import has not taken place and advance remittances were done," the official added.

The 11 bank accounts of HDFC bank in question were of Sanjay Aggarwal and Chandan Bhatia, who acted as middlemen for such transactions having shell companies in Hong Kong and Dubai. While five of the 11 accounts were of Bhatia, six belonged to Aggarwal, sources said. The two have already been arrested along with Kalra.

ED investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act claimed that the HDFC Bank employee was allegedly helping Bhatia and Aggarwal in remitting the amount through Bank of Baroda against a commission of 30-50 paise per dollar remitted abroad. The agency is also probing a case for forex contraventions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Both CBI and ED pursued the case after an internal investigation by BoB showed Rs 6,172 crore was sent from India to Hong Kong for import of cashew nuts, pulses and rice, but nothing was imported and the money was deposited in 59 bank accounts of several companies.

Bhatia was a middleman and also an exporter who had shell companies in India that used to remit money to the companies based in Hong Kong. He also formed companies in Hong Kong. He has so far revealed that he had sent foreign remittances to the tune of Rs 420 crore.

Aggarwal was working in tandem with importers and had formed many firms in India from where he used to send foreign remittance in advance from BoB in lieu of the imports that never happened. He had formed companies in Hong Kong and Dubai to transfer the difference in import value to save customs duty in the bank account of the importers. During this period, he had sent foreign remittances to the tune of Rs 430 crore.

source:Bankingupdates
08:06

Internal audit bringing Bank of Baroda fraud to light is welcome

Internal audit bringing Bank of Baroda fraud to light is welcome

The alleged trade-based money laundering in the Bank of Baroda (BoB) shows that procedures at the bank were clearly wanting as money was remitted against imports that perhaps were not made. The accused, allegedly in connivance with bank officials, reportedly created a fraudulent trade circuit: the Indian companies exported overvalued products by generating fake bills and the shell companies in Hong Kong submitted fake import bills to claim duty drawback. 

The difference in the bills and actual value was moved through the banking channel, in violation of the anti-money laundering rules.

That an internal audit brought the fraud to light is welcome. While no system is fully foolproof, in this case, controlling offices are to blame for failure to verify the shipments from customs authorities. 

Customs issues bills of entry, giving details of the exporter and the consignment, and a bill of lading, detailing the shipment of merchandise. Officials in BoB appear to have ignored the requirement of bill of entry and bill of lading, besides bills or receipts of the exporter as evidence of purchase despite the abnormal volume of remittances. The anti-money laundering law requires a bank to report suspicious transactions, but that was not done.

 Nor was the authenticity of documents verified. The lack of due diligence by the controlling offices is baffling. And that too with consignment verification becoming far simpler now, through Customs Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data interchange gateway.

Six people that include bank officials have been arrested. Both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are probing the scam. Exemplary punishment to fraudsters can act as a deterrent, but there is no substitute for eternal vigilance by banks to curb money laundering.

Source:Bankingupdates

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

12:43

Bank of Baroda Forex scam: CBI conducts raids, questions suspects

Bank of Baroda Forex scam: CBI conducts raids, questions suspects

New Delhi: CBI teams Sunday swooped down at 50 locations in Delhi in connection with its probe into alleged spurious transactions of Rs 6,000 crore to Hong Kong from a Bank of Baroda branch in the garb of purported payments of "non-existent" imports.

CBI sources said agency has found that Ashok Vihar branch of the bank was a relatively new one which has got the permission to entertain forex transactions only in 2013.

They said that Rs 6,000 crore were transferred through nearly 8,000 transactions done between July, 2014 and July, 2015.

Giving details of the case, CBI spokesperson Devpreet Singh said here today it was alleged that the amount remitted in each transaction would be kept at less than USD one lakh.
"All the remittances were made to Hong Kong. The amount was remitted as advance for import and in most of the cases, the beneficiary was the same," the spokesperson said.

Most of the foreign exchange-related transactions were carried out in newly opened current accounts wherein heavy cash receipts were observed but the branch did not generate Exceptional Transaction Report (ETR) and did not monitor the high value transactions, she said.

The sources said these remittances were sent by splitting them into amounts below one lakh USD to avoid automatic detection by software used by banks to alert them about such transactions.

They said in taxation language the technique is known as smurfing and holders were able to skip the scrutiny of such transactions.

The sources said most of the 59 accused have been identified by the agency which today carried out searches at 50 locations in a massive operation involving about 200 officers.

"It was revealed that most of the addresses given by the companies / firms were either false or the companies / firms did not exist at the said addresses. Most of the accused persons allegedly involved in perpetration of the said crime have been identified and their interrogation is underway," she said.

CBI is tight-lipped about accused and beneficiary in the case claiming that probe which is in a delicate state is not jeopardised.

CBI has registered a case under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) of IPC and Section 13(2) read with13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against 59 current account holders and unknown bank officials and private persons on a complaint from Bank of Baroda.

The FIR alleged that "59 current account holders and unknown bank officials conspired to send overseas remittances, mostly to Hong Kong, of Foreign Exchange worth approximately Rs 6,000 crores in illegal and irregular manner in violation of established banking norms under the garb of payments towards suspected non-existent imports."

The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case and carried out searches in this connection. Yesterday, Congress had demanded an inquiry in to the matter.

"It was strange that the money was sent to buy cashew, pulses and rice from Hong Kong," Congress spokesperson RPN Singh had said.

The bank which had carried out an internal probe, after audit red flagged nearly 8000 transactions done from Ashok Vihar branch of the Bank, found that there was failure on their part to report these suspicious transactions, they said.

They said the account holders who were allegedly sending these payments to Hong Kong had claimed that these were advances for imports of cashew, rice etc whereas no such imports ever took place. 

PTI 
First Published: Sunday, October 11, 2015 - 14:18

Source :IndianBankKumar.blogspot.in