kolkata
07:09
Showing posts with label kolkata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kolkata. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 February 2018
Tuesday, 28 March 2017
non performing assets
07:31
"Turn Around Plan" for 10 banks - AIBOC Bank Union Views
"Turn Around Plan" for 10 banks - AIBOC Bank Union Views
Officers’ union AIBOC resolves not to sign ‘turnaround’ plan for 10 banks
Calls for a viable and practical proposal; wants govt to hold dialogue with unions
COIMBATORE, MARCH 26:
The bank officers’ fraternity met at SBIOA House in Kolkata on Friday to discuss the finance department’s ‘turnaround plan’ proposal of 10 banks.
These 10 banks have been identified as ones where capital infusion by the government in future would be conditional.
The banks are: IDBI Bank, Bank of India, UCO Bank, Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Dena Bank, United Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Central Bank of India. The government is understood to have asked the unions and associations in these banks to sign an agreement for the ‘turnaround plan’.
The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) has resolved not to sign the proposal put forth by the government, instead negotiate for a “more viable and practical” plan.
Stating that it is unfair to ask the unions/associations to take responsibility for a turnaround when they have not been party to decisions, Thomas Franco, General Secretary, AIBOC, said: “Employees have practically no role in the government’s policy and credit decisions. The entire banking industry is facing the menace of NPA (Non-Performing Asset) because of environmental factors, and a major portion of the NPA are big-ticket loans, which include corporates and infrastructure projects. The credit decisions in such cases are not taken by the employees. It is, therefore, not fair to shift the onus of responsibility on the employees.”
‘Meaningless’ to target staff
“There is also a condition on realignment/reorientation of perquisites of employees and officers in the said 10 banks till they turnaround,” Franco said.
“Even if all the officers and employees forego their salaries and perquisites for a year, it will not help turnaround the banks. It is, therefore, meaningless to target employees and officers.”
The AIBOC has alternatively assured to recover smaller NPAs (wherever possible) through follow up, while demanding the government to publish the names of wilful defaulters and initiating stringent action against big-ticket (loan) defaulters.
“The demand for credit is huge in rural and semi-urban areas. This should be addressed not withstanding the need to strengthen finance support to smaller borrowers.
“The focus should be on NPA recovery instead of the push to cross-sell. Unnecessary travel expenses can be postponed, extravagant expenses can be reduced without touching staff expenses, and so on,” Franco said.
The meeting resolved to impress upon the government the need for an immediate meeting with the unions/associations, appointment of officer/employee directors on the board of banks, implementation of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on NPA and release of compensation for the expenditure incurred in opening 27 crore Jan Dhan accounts and opportunity cost due to demonetisation.
Source:Business Line
Sunday, 8 January 2017
retired bank pensioners
22:51
Organisational activities initiated by different affiliates and state committees – AIPNBPRA, Burdwan Unit holds its triennial conference – Bank of India Pensioners & Retirees Association, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana States Unit Holds its first state conference
Organisational activities initiated by different affiliates and state committees – AIPNBPRA, Burdwan Unit holds its triennial conference – Bank of India Pensioners & Retirees Association, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana States Unit Holds its first state conference
Source:AIBPRC
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
recruitment
18:20
Bandhan Bank taps talent from DBS Bank, Yes Bank
Bandhan Bank taps talent from DBS Bank, Yes Bank
Bandhan Bank, one of the two babies in the banking industry, has again tapped top talent from more sophisticated rivals to fill in gaps in retail banking and information technology space, and has appointed Rahul Johri, former retail head of DBS Bank, and Vijaykumar Ramakrishna, who was earlier with Yes Bank.
Bandhan has built its top and mid-level banking team by hiring laterally from other private lenders such as Axis Bank and HDFC Bank. It hired about 400 professionals for general banking and over 90% of them are from private rivals.
Johri has joined as retail banking head and reports directly to chief executive Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. Ramakrishna joined as its IT head.
"We are now engaged in capacity enhancement for our retail team. Rahul Johri will be spearheading this effort," Ghosh told ET, confirming the development.
He said the new bank is taking small steps in terms of its retail lending plan goes. "It's important that we create a robust eco-system for retail lending and we are not in a hurry to push things."
The Kolkata-based lender has built a 660-strong branch network spreading across the country in just about six months of its journey. Its focus so far has been to raise as much deposits as possible and has succeeded in mobilizing over Rs 11,000 crore by the end of March.
"Bandhan Bank holds 20% plus market share in the micro lending business pan-India," said Johri. "This is an opportunity to be part of an organisation poised to be a leading banking institution in India over the next five years."
An IIT Kharagpur alumnus, Johri has served about 15 years in foreign banks including Standard Chartered, Barclays and DBS Bank, engaged in different roles like consumer banking, retail liabilities and NRI services.
IT is another aspect which needs a foolproof system. Both Bandhan and IDFC, the other one to begin banking journey last year, had to go through a complicated and painful process of upgrading IT system. Bandhan with a customer base of 85-lakh plus, especially needs a more robust IT system, and Ramakrishna is now leading it from the front.
Bandhan has two business verticals -- general banking and micro banking. Retail business and lending to small businesses and individuals come under general banking while its existing microfinance makes up the micro banking division. It has around 20,500 employees, with over thee-fourth engaged in micro banking.
Source:BankingUpdates
Saturday, 31 October 2015
RBI
09:28
RBI questions banks for lending Rs 5253 cr after CBI uncovers fraud
RBI questions banks for lending Rs 5253 cr after CBI uncovers fraud
Four days after the CBI registered cases against a Kolkata- based company, it has emerged the RBI redflagged loans given to the firm seven months ago, virtually indicting banks for not acting in one of India’s largest banking frauds.
In a confidential letter to the department of financial services (DFS), the Reserve Bank of India raised uncomfortable questions about the role of banks that had lent a colossal Rs 5,253 crore to REI Agro Limited case. The Basmati rice trading firm availed the credit from a consortium of 21 banks.
RBI’s letter came after already asking the lending banks in July 2014 to investigate REI Agro Limited’s operations and report back any fraudulent activities. When the banks didn’t respond, the central bank asked UCO Bank — the largest lender — to hold an emergency meeting of the lending banks, and asked them “to report the fraud and start recovery proceedings immediately”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation lodged a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery against the firm on Monday.
“Instead of exploring the possibility of treating the case as a fraud and filing a criminal complaint if necessary, the banks were moving in the direction of restructuring the loan,” read the RBI letter to the DFS, the government arm that oversees banks and banking operations.
But the banks didn’t take action for a long time.
The RBI letter also asked the DFS to alert the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to take necessary steps.
The RBI spokesperson refused to comment while calls to the DFS secretary elicited no response. REI Agro could also not be contacted.
“Our bank has reported REI Agro account as default and fraud... recovery action has also been taken,” said SR Bansal, Corporation Bank chief.
But an Axis Bank spokesperson said the bank does not comment on “individual clients and their transactions”. Bank of Baroda executive director BB Joshi did not respond.
A senior official at one of the public banks said the consortium was trying to revive the loan amount to keep it active and not classify it as a non-performing asset, which does not fetch returns.
HT had earlier reported on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s letter to the PMO, listing out India’s top 10 bank frauds — led by a Rs 4,276 crore loan by diamond trading firm Winsome — asking the officials to act urgently on the large value banking frauds and “the need to take concerted action in these cases”.
Source :BankingUpdates.
Source :BankingUpdates.
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
UCO Bank
08:34
CBI books 'Raindrop' basmati rice producer in massive bank fraud
CBI books 'Raindrop' basmati rice producer in massive bank fraud
In probably one of the biggest bank frauds in recent times, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed a case against a private rice producing company, which was once listed on the London and Singapore stock exchanges other than the BSE and co-sponsored IPL's Delhi Daredevil team in 2013.
CBI alleges that the company — REI Agro Limited, which sells basmati rice under brand name 'Raindrops' — defaulted on loans of Rs 3,814.30 crore from a consortium of 15 public sector banks led by UCO bank. Credit facilities in such huge amounts was availed by REI, 2013 onwards but the money was never returned to the banks, says CBI.
The CBI claims that the preliminary probe suggests that there was major diversion of funds from bank loans to other ventures of the company.
After registering a case of cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery, the CBI raided the premises of REI in Delhi, Kolkata and Haryana's Rewari distict and recovered large number of documents related to the businesses of the company, 10 hard disks and rubber stamps of Andhra Bank and a Dubai-based company.
The CBI has named the firm and its directors — Sanjay Jhunjhunwala, Sandip Jhunjhunwala, N K Gupta and Krishna Daya Ghosh — in its FIR, registered on Monday.
The company could not be reached for comments.
CBI sources said that the company had allegedly created a web of shell companies to facilitate fraudulent transactions related to rice trading, and defrauded banks in India and abroad.Officials added that REI also aggressively publicised its brand on the Mumbai local trains six years back, spending huge money on marketing.
The company was reportedly formed in 1994 and for some period remained listed on London Stock Exchange and Singapore Stock Exchange. It also ran 400 super stores across India with the brand name of 6Ten.
In fact, CBI sources said that in Singapore, financial service provider Credit Suisse has sued the company for $80 million.
The company, on its website, boasts of it being the world's largest basmati rice processing and marketing company.
Source:BankingUpdates.
Saturday, 5 September 2015
SBI
08:55
SBI shortlists three properties in Kolkata to bring corporate offices under one roof
SBI shortlists three properties in Kolkata to bring corporate offices under one roof
The State Bank of India, India's largest lender, is looking for a 1 lakh sqft property between JL Nehru Road and Park Street in Kolkata as part of a plan to bring its corporate offices in the city under one roof.
It has shortlisted two properties, Standard Chartered building on the crossroads of NS Road and Reliance House on Chowringhee Road, and Prasad Group's upcoming office space project on AJC Bose Road, from among seven applicants after floating tenders.
"We have taken up title investigation for all the three properties and once the price bid is sorted at the end of this month we will be in a position to assess the best deal," said SP Chatterjee, assistant general manager, premises, SBI Kolkata.
All of the state-run bank's zonal and regional offices currently function out of rented properties.
"To acquire a building and operate from under one roof is being done to reduce long-term costs that the bank spends on rentals," said Chatterjee. About 250 employees from the bank's rented zonal and regional office will be expected to shift to the new corporate office.
The bank will finalise the deal by the end of this fiscal and begin operations in the new property after necessary renovations.
While the five-storey Reliance House spreads over 1.10 lakh sqft, the Standard Chartered building dating back to the 1850s is a heritage property located in BBD Bagh area in the city's central business district. The bank is looking at acquiring a modern facility with latest amenities, albeit at the right price. "Given the area of Reliance House the existing market value of the building would be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 18,000 per sqft, while NS Road office space is priced at Rs 13,000-15,000 per sqft," said Champalall Baid, director at Champalall and Co, a city-based real estate firm, one of the seven bidders.
Gopal Prasad, director at Prasad Group, said his company has an advantage over the other two properties.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Union Bank of India
11:26
United Bank of India looks to bring down gross NPA below Rs 6000 cr
United Bank of India looks to bring down gross NPA below Rs 6000 cr
Kolkata-headquartered United Bank of India (UBI) would make efforts to bring the absolute gross NPA figures below Rs 6,000 crore by the end of the fiscal, a top official of the bank said.
"Our main aim will be to lower the absolute gross NPA level below Rs 6,000 crore by the end of the financial year", MD and CEO of UBI P Srinivas said.
The gross NPA level in percentage terms was around 9.5 per cent. "We will have to bring it between 7.5-8 per cent", Srinivas told reporters on the sidelines of FICCI Banking Conclave here today.
However, there would be some addition to NPAs, he said.
When asked if the bank would sell bad assets to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), Srinivas said this would happen only when a good value is secured.
He added that the bank is hopeful of getting capital from the government, adding that it had sought Rs 500 crore.
Else, the bank had also drawn up alternative fund-raising plans as well, he said.
On its exposure to the beleaguered Electrosteel Castings, Srinivas said talks are on to find a new promoter. "We hope to get a new promoter by September this year. SBI is talking to some of them and this is being discussed internally", he said.
Source :Bankupdates.
Source :Bankupdates.
