RBI imposes Rs 1 cr penalty on Union Bank of India for KYC non-compliance

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier this week imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 10 million on Union Bank of India for non-compliance with the directions issued by the apex bank on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.

The penalty imposed on July 26, is part of the exercise vested under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to certain directions issued by RBI.

This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

Earlier, the RBI had received a complaint regarding huge cash withdrawals in certain accounts maintained with Union Bank of India.

Upon examination of the documents obtained in this regard, a Notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with directions issued by RBI.

After considering the bank's reply, oral submissions made in the personal hearing, as also the additional information and documents furnished, RBI came to the conclusion that the aforesaid charge of non-compliance with RBI directions was substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty.

DA FOR BANKER FROM AUGUST 2017 INCREASE 22 SLAB i.e 2.20% see details

Today i.e. on 31.07.2017, Government announced Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the month of June'17. On the basis of CPI data announced by the Govt for the month of Apr'17 to June'17, as tabled below, there is an increase of 22 DA Slabs payable for the period of Aug'17 to Oct'17.

The total number of DA slabs and in terms of percentage the Dearness Allowance (DA) payable is as under :-

DA Payable on Revised Pay:- - The percentage of increase in DA is 2.20% for the month of Aug'17 to Oct'17 and total revised DA slabs is 478 Slabs and total percentage of DA payable on Revised Pay is 42.80%

CPI for the Quarter

Apr 2017	6322.77
May 2017	6345.60
Jun 2017	6391.25
Average CPI
For the Quarter Jan - Mar 2017 as above = 6353.21
For the Last Quarter (Jan - Mar 2016) = 6261.91

Diiference   6353.21-6261.91=91.3

so DA  SLAB - 91.3/4 = 22.82      

Indian IT supports 5 lakh jobs in RCEP

The sector, however, faces issues due to curbs on movement of professionals for short-term work

Indian IT/Business Process Management (BPM) sector is supporting nearly half a million jobs in 15 Asia-Pacific nations that are in negotiations for a mega-regional Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

This is in addition to the sector accounting for 3.5 million jobs in India — which is also part of the proposed mega FTA, officially known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving, thereby, a total of 16 Asia-Pacific countries.

However, the Indian IT/BPM industry — despite supporting so many jobs and investing billions of (U.S.) dollars in the RCEP region – has been facing a host of problems, including restrictions on movement of professionals for short-term work, according to industry body Nasscom.

This was stated by Nasscom in a presentation made by its senior director (global trade development), Gagan Sabharwal on July 25 before a gathering of the RCEP industry groups. The trade negotiators were later shown some highlights of the presentation.

The RCEP technical-level negotiations were held during July 18-28 in Hyderabad, where India made a strong pitch for liberalisation of services, including norms to ease temporary movement of professionals across borders.

The Nasscom presentation showed the Indian IT/BPM sector supported 4.54 lakh jobs in 15 RCEP countries (excluding India) and made investments worth “several thousand millions of (U.S.) dollars across the (RCEP) region.”

Of the 4.54 lakh jobs, 1.72 lakh (or about 38%) were direct jobs while 2.82 lakh (or about 62%) were indirect jobs.

‘Several restrictions’

Nasscom, however, pointed out the Indian IT/BPM sector was subjected to several restrictions in the RCEP region on temporary movement of professionals.

These included trouble in getting visas (Singapore), increase in minimum salary levels for foreign short-term workers (Singapore and Australia), mandatory police clearances and hike in visa costs (Australia), lack of country-wide validity of visas (China), job quotas (Indonesia), requirement of legalised marriage certificates (Philippines). It further said the “irritants” for business visa travellers included the requirement of minimum bank balance (Philippines), very short-duration single entry visas (China), requirement of original invite letter with certificate of incorporation of the invitee (Japan), mandatory work permit for stay of over 15 days (Indonesia).

RCEP visa

On the suggestions from the Indian IT/BPM industry regarding the broad contours of an “RCEP Services Visa / Work Permit’, Nasscom said visa or work permit should be given to skilled resources for short duration (up to 3-5 years) for all intra-company related movement. There should be time-bound fast-track immigration clearance and easier expat registration, it said.

There should be no conditions including caps, quotas, levies and charges, it said, and argued against onerous measures such as certifications from end-consumer. Also there should not be any requirement of contribution to the host social security regime if the applicant shows proof of continuing association with home country regime, Nasscom said.

Axis Bank becomes first Indian bank to acquire digital payments

India's third largest private sector bank Axis Bank on Thursday announced entering into an agreement with Jasper Infotech Private Limited to acquire 100 percent stake in FreeCharge.

Axis Bank, who is a leader in key payment modes, marks the acquisition as the first in digital payments company by a bank in India.

The bank has been driving digital acceptance and has established the second largest merchant network with over 4,33,000 POS machines.

It has also been actively participating in market leading payment innovations, through partnerships with Samsung Pay, Kochi Metro, BMTC, etc.

?The acquisition of FreeCharge re-affirms Axis Bank?s determination to lead the journey of digitization of financial services. We expect FreeCharge to contribute significantly in our aspiration to serve the digital native and mobile-first young consumers of India,? said MD and CEO Axis Bank, Shikha Sharma.

?The Axis FreeCharge combination is a potent one that has the potential to make a large impact on the digital payments and banking space. It is a win-win deal that allows Snapdeal to further focus on our core e-commerce business, while giving Axis some of the most agile and innovative technology capabilities in the financial services space in India,? said Snapdeal co-founder and CEO, Kunal Bahl.

?We are happy that FreeCharge has a new strong owner in Axis Bank and will embark on a new journey with the Bank. The entrepreneurial team at FreeCharge brings with it immense technology and product expertise,? said interim CEO of FreeCharge and Chief Strategy and Investment Officer of Snapdeal, Jason Kothari.

With more than 90 percent of transactions originating from its app, FreeCharge is at the forefront of the mobile commerce revolution. Nearly 75 percent of its users are under 30 years, with 85 percent of active users accessing their financial services from a mobile device.

CAG raps govt-owned banks for understating non-performing assets

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has slammed the managements and statutory auditors of 12 public sector banks (PSBs) for overstating their net profit, by underestimating non-performing assets (NPAs) and under-providing for these bad assets during 2016-17.

Also, there were differences in the classification of and provisioning for assets between five banks and the Reserve Bank (RBI) but as the divergence did not fall within the criteria fixed by the latter, it had not been disclosed by these lenders, the audit watchdog said in its report, presented to Parliament on Friday.

The 12 PSBs are Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab and Sind Bank, and United Bank of India.

The highest underestimation was made by Bank of Maharashtra, by Rs 3,034 crore, followed by Central Bank of India (Rs 2,097 crore), Corporation Bank (Rs 1,954 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 1,350 crore).

The CAG said the primary responsibility in adequate provisioning for any diminution in the value of loan assets, investment or other assets is of the bank managements and the statutory auditors. The assessment made by the inspecting officer of RBI is given to assist the management and the auditors in taking a decision, in terms of prudential guidelines, it said.

"In conformity with the prudential norms, provisions should be made on NPAs on the basis of classification of assets into prescribed categories," it said.

CAG also observed that the criteria for infusing capital was changed by the government in between. It said,"PSBs signed (agreements) in the February-March period in 2012 with the department of financial services for performance-linked capital infusion during 2011-12 to 2014-15. However, achievement against the (agreed-on) targets was not linked to actual capital infusion."

The basis for parameters on capital infusion changed between actual and estimated values, both year to year and often within different tranches in the same year. "For FY15, there was a shift from need-based to performance-based capital infusion, with return on assets being employed as the basic criteria."

It recommended that the criteria for fund infusion, once finalised, be consistently applied across all PSBs. In cases of variation, the reasons should be well documented.

CAG also expressed doubt over the possibility of PSBs raising about Rs 1 lakh crore from the market by 2019, even as the finance ministry asserted that the large ones would succeed in tapping funds. The audit body said there were significant gaps between book value and market value of PSB shares, with most of these having a lower market value. This might come in their way for approaching the market.

The government's 'Indradhanush' plan (2015-19) envisages that PSBs would raise Rs 1.1 lakh crore over this period from the market, along with capital infusion of Rs 70,000 crore from the public treasury, to meet their assessed capital requirement of Rs 1.8 lakh crore under the Basel-III global risk norms. So far (January 2015-March 2017), PSBs have raised Rs 7,726 crore from the market. Which "raises doubts on the possibility of raising the balance by 2019", it said.

PSU Banks Merger is likely to happen by December End this Year.

The Finance Ministry has decided to keep the concept paper ready for the PSU banks’ merger in a month or so and the proposed merger would be guided by bigger banks’ regional expansion plans. It is expected that the final merger is likely to happen by December end this year.

The SBI had merged with five associate banks to create a behemoth with over Rs 37 lakh crore in assets earlier this year. However, the Finance Ministry wants to merge State-run banks into mega-corporations so that they can stand up to competition from global banks which will eventually be allowed to enter India as part of a WTO deal on services or as part of bilateral or regional free trade pacts.

“The Finance Ministry has been consistently working on the move since the smooth merger of the SBI with its associate banks. We hope the concept paper on the proposed PSU banks merger should be ready in a month or so and the merger will be guided by bigger banks’ regional expansion plans. We have already asked all bank chiefs in this regard, and also sought the expansion plans from all bigger banks such as Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Bank of India (BoI) and Canara Bank for the prospective merger,” a top official in Finance Ministry told The Pioneer. 

It is expected that the possible merger will create 4-5 big national banks in a global competitive format. “The merger may be in the form of regional consolidation so that a north India based-bank takes over a smaller bank from the north and similarly, a strong southern bank with a strong bank from the east” said the top official, adding that there may be some key factors like regional balance, geographical reach, financial burden and smooth human resource transition that have to be looked into while taking a merger decision.

According to sources close to the developments, the Finance Ministry officials have already held meetings with the top brass of 10 State-owned banks recently, and the bank bosses have been informed about the state of affairs in the PSBs and the possible tools they could use to help to consolidate the sector. “The merger proposals in such cases will also need clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI),” sources said.

Keeping several issues like bad loan or non-performing asset (NPA) of almost all PSBs, the Government is very much aware of its merger consequences. If it goes with the move by merging a weak bank with another bank in a whimsical manner, then the profitability of the larger bank may be hit to some extent.

When asked about the post-merger scenario and its profitability aspect, another senior official said, “The merger move is to keep our banks in good health and internationally sustainable and competitive. As our banks are mostly listed in the stock exchanges, we cannot burden their prime shareholders with such quirky decisions.”

On Tuesday, the Finance Ministry has also sought help of NITI Aayog and other global consultancy firms to examine the possibility of next round of consolidation of PSBs with an aim to create only a few lenders of global size and scale.

“We expect a detailed report from NITI Aayog on consolidation in about a month or so and some global consultancy firms are also examining the issue,” said a senior Government official, adding that the report of NITI Aayog will set tone and tenure of the roadmap for consolidation in the future.

With the merger, the Government expects there would be a likely improvement in the NPA situation over the next two quarters and some movement on this front should begin soon. Total bad loans of public sector banks rose by over Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 6.06 lakh crore during April-December of 2016-17, the bulk of which came from power, steel, roads & infrastructure and textile sectors.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has always expressed at several occasions that India needs 4-5 big banks of global size and scale, and further consolidation in the banking sector will be done at appropriate time. During 2016-17, the Government had also pumped in Rs 25,000 crore to boost their capital in the State-run banks.

In April 1, 2017, five associates and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) became part of the SBI, catapulting the country’s largest lender to among the top 50 banks in the world. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT), besides BMB, were merged with SBI.

The Government in February had approved the merger of these five associate banks with the SBI. Later in March, the Cabinet approved merger of BMB as well. The SBI first merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself in 2008. Two years later, State Bank of Indore was merged with it.

10 Public Sector Banks Have Submitted Turnaround Plans to the Government

As many as 10 state-owned banks including Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Union Bank, have submitted their turnaround plans to the government, which is a pre-requisite for getting fund infusion, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra are the other public sector lenders who have submitted their plans.Indian Overseas Bank is currently in the process of preparing its turnaround plan, said Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.It has been decided that any future capital infusion in these banks shall be subject to achievement of select agreed upon milestones as per turnaround plan on quarterly basis,” the minister said.A monitoring mechanism has been put in place, whereby quarterly performance of these banks would be monitored by SBI Capital Markets, who in turn would keep the Department of Financial Services informed about the same.
“Banks that will not be able to deliver on the agreed upon turnaround plan for a period of two years will be identified as banks eligible for alternative recourse,” Gangwar added.
During recapitalisation exercise undertaken last fiscal, the government had decided that 25 per cent of the total capital requirement of banks (Rs 8,586 crore) will be allocated after achievement of benchmarks set up for select parameters.

PSB mergers should be between equals: SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya

State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said the merger of public sector banks should be between equals and added that things will start getting better on asset quality by the second half of the year. In an exclusive interview to ET, Bhattacharya said union of state-run banks is feasible but the lenders should be given time to ensure the mergers work. 

There can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach, and the temptation to merge the weaker ones with the stronger ones should be resisted as it leads to the stronger one losing strength, she said. 

“It (merger of banks) is feasible. It has been done in other countries. But you will have to give them time to do it and be able to show a turnaround. You cannot expect it to happen tomorrow and (hope that) day after things will be fine. 

It won’t work like that. They will need 3-4 quarters to put it all together and come out on top,” Bhattacharya said. 

The clamour to merge 21 PSU banks is getting louder with the government nearly shutting the capital tap. While investors are likely to provide capital to strong ones like SBI, which raised Rs 15,000 crore in a share sale, many others are likely to be shut out from the market. Some will have to be merged so that the capital requirement comes down and resources are better utilised. 

“The smaller SOE (state-owned banks) are short of capital and it will be a struggle for them to raise funds unlike the larger banks, which may be able to access equity markets,” said Sumeet Kariwala, analyst at Morgan Stanley. 

Hence, the government may look at merging smaller, weaker banks with larger and relatively stronger lenders.” 

Bhattacharya, however, said that may not be the right thing to do. The chief of SBI, which recently completed the merger of six banks with itself, said there should be a merger of equals so that synergies can be derived. 
“It should be strong to strong and weak to weak, because if you do a strong and weak it doesn’t really make much sense since it unnecessarily pulls down the strong bank also to some extent,” she said. “And, of course, they need to look at other synergies… there might be synergies of systems, synergies of reach, synergies of different portfolios of business, synergies of cultural fit. 

So it cannot be one size fits all.” Banks’ journey to becoming stronger entities may be full of surprises and painful events, but that is inevitable in the process of growing up, she said. “The alternatives are very few, so to that extent this seems to be the best way out,” said Bhattacharya. 

“And, probably, this will be painful. But a maturing process and growth is always painful. You ask any teenager they will tell you, and it’s just like that for the country. We need to grow, we  need to evolve

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/59447968.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Indian banks most at risk among South, S-E Asian peers: Moody's poll

Indian banks are most at risk in South and South-East (S-E) Asia, and being under-capitalised, they lack sufficient loan provisioning, says a Moody's poll. 

It said the government has appeared reluctant to increase capital injection into PSU banks despite the limited ability of these lenders to access equity markets for the much-needed capital. 

Earlier this month, Moody's polled 210 market participants on some of the industry's most pressing credit issues. 

"Indian banks are most at risk in South and South-East Asia. We agree that many banks in India remain undercapitalised and continue to lack sufficient loan-loss provisions. Moreover, the government has appeared reluctant to increase capital injections into the PSU banks, despite the limited ability of these to access equity markets for the much-needed capital," the the Moody's poll said. 

Earlier this week, Moody's had revised the outlook on several Indian banks to stable or negative from positive, signaling a lowering in potential government support, and/or weaknesses in solvency metrics. 

 

Social media reports on closure of 9 public sector banks are false, baseless: IBA

Indian Banks’ Association, the self-regulatory body of banks in the country, has termed as false and baseless reports doing the rounds in social media about the adverse financial strength and future of some public sector banks arising out of Reserve Bank of India’s prompt corrective action (PCA)

The Association said the PCA framework, which has been in existence since 2002, has been initiated by the RBI in respect of some public sector banks where certain thresholds on capital and asset quality have been breached.

“The corrective measures under PCA will help improve the overall performance of these banks. IBA assures the general public and depositors that there is no cause for fear or panic and they should not fall prey to false reports and their money is safe,” the Association said in a statement.

The RBI has so far initiated PCA for Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Dena Bank, Central Bank of India, and Bank of Maharashtra. PCA has been initiated in view of high net non-performing assets and negative return on assets of these banks.

Referring to misinformed communication circulating in some sections of media including social media, the RBI, on June 5, emphasised that the PCA framework is not intended to constrain normal operations of the banks for the general public.

“The Reserve Bank, under its supervisory framework, uses various measures/tools to maintain sound financial health of banks. The PCA framework is one such supervisory tool, which involves monitoring of certain performance indicators of the banks as an early warning exercise and is initiated once such thresholds as relating to capital, asset quality, etc. are breached,” the RBI said.

The objective of PCA is to facilitate the banks to take corrective measures, including those prescribed by the Reserve Bank, in a timely manner, in order to restore their financial health.

The framework also provides an opportunity to the Reserve Bank to lend focussed attention on such banks by engaging more closely with the management in those areas.

WAGE REVISION - SUB-COMMITTEES FOR WORKMEN AND OFFICERS' ISSUES ANNOUNCED BY UFBU

Private sector lender Axis Bank posted 16 per cent fall in net profit

Private sector lender Axis Bank posted 16 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 1305.60 crore for the quarter ended June 30, against Rs 1,555.53 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Net interest income slipped 2.36 per cent YoY to Rs 4,616 crore during the quarter under review. It had reported NII of Rs 4728 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The asset quality of the bank remained stable as gross non-performing assets (NPA) stood at 5.03 per cent as of June 2017 as against 5.04 per cent as of March 2017.

However, percentage of net NPA increased marginally to 2.30 per cent from 2.11 per cent QoQ.

Defaulted on your loan? Your bank will soon be legally bound not to hound you for one-time repayment

The government has begun work on laying down a process for individuals to be declared bankrupt, which will help them deal with a financial crisis rather than be bogged down by it. The rules being framed will help a defaulter repay the money in a structured way, and not be forced to cough it up to banks in one go. 

Sources said the idea is to make the process more humane as the rules would deal with a host of individuals — from farmers and kirana shop owners to a salaried middle class person who may be struggling to repay a loan for genuine reasons, like loss of employment. 

“There is huge social stigma attached to this. So, you cannot be punitive. People should be allowed to restructure their lives," said Sumant Batra, managing partner and head of the insolvency , secured transactions & corporate law practice at law firm Kesar Dass B & Associates. There are laws dating back over a century to deal with individual bankruptcy but they have been used only sparingly in the last several decades. The jurisdiction mostly lies with district judges.Currently , banks approach Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (Sarfaesi), which are aimed at recovering the dues. 

While the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), enacted by Parliament last year, provides for individuals to be declared bankrupt, so far, action has been confined to the corporate corporate sector and start-ups. The ministry of corporate affairs and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India have now begun discussions on putting in place rules to help individuals and partnership firms. 

A working group is looking at several aspects, including making counselling mandatory as is the case in Singapore. Similarly, there is a need to make the legal system more easily accessible. “We need to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure to help people who are already stressed. Plus, issues related to state laws need to be worked out," said a source. 

 

Cabinet clears ordinance to amend Banking Act to tackle NPAs

A bill to authorise the RBI to direct banking companies to resolve the problem of stressed assets was on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

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 measure allows the RBI to initiate insolvency resolution process on specific stressed assets.

The RBI would also be empowered to issue other directions for resolution, appoint or approve for appointment, authorities or committees to advise the banking companies for stressed asset resolution.

Jaitley introduced the Bill amid protests in the House by opposition members protesting over the alleged incidents of lynching by cow vigilantes in different parts of the country.

Just before the bill was introduced, Trinamool Congress member Sougata Ray said he was opposed to the banking regulation ordinance and said it was a "desperate step by a desperate government".

Non-performing assets of banks have risen to over Rs 9 lakh crore and now RBI is being given power to refer the cases to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board, he said.

"It is the same RBI which had not been able to count notes (since demonetisation). Giving such powers to RBI will detract it from macro-economic to micro-economic issues and render the bank management useless," Roy said

He demanded that the bill be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

When Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked Jaitley if he has to say anything on Roy's remarks, the Finance Minister said the issues does not relate to the introduction and would be dealt with when the bill comes up for a discussion.

Moving on fast-track, the RBI had in June identified 12 large loan defaulters who account for 25 per cent of the total bad loans in the banking sector.

Action under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has already begun in certain cases, including Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Bhushan Power & Steel.

RBI to lease currency verification systems to weed out fakes

The Reserve Bank will hire 12 currency verification systems for six months to help it segregate fake ones from scrapped notes of Rs. 500/1000 denomination.

The central bank is currently engaged in counting huge pile of old Rs. 500/1000 notes which were scrapped following demonetisation on November 9, 2016.

Earlier in May, the Reserve Bank had floated a global tender for leasing of 18 ‘Currency Verification and Processing System (CVPS)’

However, the tender was later cancelled and now a fresh one has been floated to lease 12 such systems.

As per the tender document, the currency notes of all denominations received at regional office of the RBI would have to be processed at a minimum speed of 30 notes per second.

The term of the lease contract will be of six months, extendable by three blocks of two months each, it added.

RBI Governor Urjit Patel, while appearing before a Parliamentary panel on July 12, had reportedly said the deposited banned notes were still being counted and therefore he was not in a position to give a figure on the scrapped currency that was back in the system.

Patel did not provide any “specific number” on the amount of money that had been deposited post—demonetisation.

According to the finance ministry, as on November 8, the day demonetisation was announced, there were 1,716.50 crore pieces of Rs. 500 and 685.80 crore Rs. 1,000 notes in circulation.