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Long queues were witnessed outside YES Bank ATMs and branches even as customers expressed shock at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed month-long moratorium on withdrawals. "It was shocking that the RBI put a limit of Rs 50,000. I have tried to take out cash from ATMs but they were blocked by YES Bank. NEFT transactions were also not taking place. I came here at 7 am to withdraw money," Yogesh Sharma, a YES Bank customer at Fort Branch in Mumbai told ANI. "I will think about continuing my account with YES Bank. I had an account with YES Bank for two years," he said. Another customer said: "It was shocking. I think RBI took the decision to make YES Bank strong and structured. I believe RBI will protect depositors' money." RBI on Thursday imposed a month-long moratorium on YES Bank citing "serious deterioration in its financial position". Read Complete Article

The Reserve Bank today said it will soon issue new Rs 100 notes in lavender colour having motif of Rani ki vav' a stepwell located on the banks of Saraswati river in Gujarat's Patan. "All Rs 100 banknotes issued earlier will also continue to be legal tender," the central bank said while announcing the issue of the new Rs 100 notes. The base colour of the note is Lavender. The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse. Dimension of the banknote will be 66 mm x 142 mm, making it smaller than the current Rs 100 notes. The size of current Rs 100 notes is 157 mm x 73 mm "As is normal, when a new design of banknote is introduced, printing and supply of these notes for distribution to public through the banking channel will gradually increase," said the RBI, which issues currency in the country. The new Rs 100 note follows, new notes in denomination of Rs 10, Rs 50 ...

The Reserve Bank on Monday amended the statutes making it possible for lenders to invest in Reits and InvIts capping such exposures to 10 per cent of the unit capital of such instruments, and also to regulate their commodity derivatives play. In amendments to the Master Direction- Reserve Bank of India (Financial Services provided by banks) Directions, 2016, the central bank said banks should not invest more than 10 per cent of the unit capital of a real estate investment trust (Reit) or an infrastructure investment trust (InvIt) subject to overall ceiling of 20 per cent of its net worth. The master directions first issued in May last year did not provide for investments in the Reits and InvIts, both newly introduced instruments. The RBI also prohibited banks from becoming a professional clearing member of commodity derivatives segment of Sebi-recognised exchanges unless it satisfies certain prudential criteria. These include bank satisfying membership criteria of th...

The government has notified the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act under which it can authorise the RBI to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process to recover bad loans. The banking sector is saddled with non-performing assets (NPAs) of over Rs 8 lakh crore, of which Rs 6 lakh crore is with public sector banks (PSBs). Earlier this month, Parliament had approved the Act, which replaced an ordinance in this regard. The government in May had promulgated an ordinance authorising the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Following the ordinance, the RBI had identified 12 accounts each having more than Rs 5,000 crore of outstanding loans and accounting for 25 per cent of total NPAs of banks for immediate referral for resolution under the bankruptcy law. The loan defaulters identified by the RBI include, Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, AB...

India's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has rationalised 716 offices (594 branches and 122 administrative offices) and several thousands of employees have been transferred beginning this fiscal, but, strangely, there have been no major protests, top officials said. Several hundreds of offices would be closed and thousands of staff would be moved in the coming months, officials added. Strangely one does not hear any major complaints of vindictiveness or arbitrariness from the normally vociferous banking sector employees. This, at a time when leading software companies are arbitrarily firing people at day's notice. Even the unions that strongly opposed the merger of six banks with SBI and were apprehensive about treatment of incoming staff by the SBI management agree that there is not much of vindictive or arbitrary movement of people till now, making one wonder as to how and why this happened. Around 70,000 employees (around 40,000 Class III and IV ...

The finance ministry is expected to initiate the process of consolidation of public sector banks (PSBs) once the first quarter results of the current fiscal have been announced, a senior official has said. There are various things including financial performance which have to be looked at before a merger decision is taken, said the official at the ministry. There are factors like regional balance, geographical reach, financial burden and smooth human resource transition that have to be looked into while taking a merger decision, the official said, adding that there should not be merger of a very weak bank with a strong one as it could pull the latter down. "So, it is going to be a complex exercise. Let the June- quarter numbers of all banks be finalised first, then there could be some action on this front," said the official, who did not want to be identified. The finance ministry had called few banks including Dena Bank some months ago to get a sense fro...

The process of resolution of bad loans will start shortly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday in the Lok Sabha as it passed a bill which gives RBI the power to direct banking companies to resolve the problem of stressed assets. Replying to a debate on the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, Jaitley said the Reserve Bank has already identified top 12 loan defaulters and more cases will be taken up by them for resolution. "No one can claim the right of equality in not paying banks back. RBI has taken up some difficult cases... I am sure they will take up more," Jaitley said. The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, seeks to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and replace the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, which was promulgated in May this year. The bill was later passed by the Lok Sabha by a voice vote. Winding up the debate on the bill, Jaitley said some laws were outdated and were acting as "impediment...

HSBC Holdings PLC on Monday said profit grew 5 percent in the six months through June and announced its third share buyback in a year, indicating continued progress in the six-year turnaround plan of Europe's biggest bank. HSBC, like many global banks, spent the years up to the 2008 financial crisis expanding its empire with a string of acquisitions. Recent years have seen it cut jobs and sell assets worldwide to shrink the group back to profitability and maintain dividend payouts in an era of stricterc. The bank's Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver and Chairman Douglas Flint are both retiring, leaving a legacy of improving revenue and returning more capital to shareholders, having focused on trimming the bank's empire and shifting focus to Asia. The latest share buyback, of up to $2 billion, comes as HSBC uses excess capital to offset the dilutive effect of shares paid out as dividends. It completed a previously announced $1 billion buyback in April. "...

The Prime Minister's Office today held a stock taking meeting with senior officials of the ministries of finance and corporate affairs to review the progress in resolution of NPAs in the light of recent action taken by the Reserve Bank on stressed assets. Prime Minister's additional secretary P K Mishra had a review meeting on resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans which have reached unacceptably high level, sources said. It was a regular stocking meeting on issues related to NPA resolution, sources said, adding that various measures to tackle rising bad loans were discussed. The banking sector is saddled with NPAs of over Rs 8 lakh crore, of which Rs 6 lakh crore is on the books of public sector banks (PSBs). Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray, who also holds additional charge as secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal were among the senior officials present at the meeting. The...

Bandhan Bank is targetting to open another 160 branches to reach the 1000-mark by the end of this financial year, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bandhan bank Chandra Shekhar Ghosh said on Sunday. "We are planning to open more branches at different locations and reach the 1000-mark by the end of this financial year (2017-18)," Ghosh told reporters here on Sunday. The bank currently has 840 branches spread across different states in the country. The bank is also planning to introduce mutual fund and insurance service by this September, Ghosh said. Meanwhile, Bandhan-Konnagar, a not-for-profit organization which is working in the sphere of education, health and women empowerment, today celebrated "Development Day" on completion of 17 years of its existence. More News: Financial News Latest Financial News Financial News India Financial News Today Current Financial News