Reduce “settlement” for debt recovery, Govt tells banks
The finance ministry and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) are learnt to be not favouring the recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular that allows banks to undertake compromise settlements or technical write-offs for accounts tagged as wilful defaults or frauds.

Card network portability may be delayed beyond Oct 1 as issuers await final RBI norms
The implementation of card network portability is likely to be delayed as issuers await final guidelines from the RBI. Even so, issuers say they are ready to meet the October 1 deadline for providing customers with their network of choice, albeit with certain restrictions. Issuers are already giving cards across more than one network, and customers can opt for a network of their preference. However, it is the requirement of network portability or offering two networks for every card that seems to be a challenge, as it will lead to duplication of cards, increased costs for issuers, and impact commercial tie-ups with networks and co-branded partners, sources told businessline.

Yes Bank appoints Manish Jain as Country Head-Wholesale Banking
Yes Bank on Wednesday announced that it has appointed Manish Jain as Country Head – Wholesale Banking of the bank effective today, after the resignation by Ravi Thota from the position of Country Head – Large Corporates. Ravi Thota, it said, has tendered his resignation on account of personal and other professional commitments. “The Bank has relieved Mr. Thota from his duties effective from close of business hours on September 26, 2023,” the bank said in a regulatory filing. 

AIBEA plans bank strike to protest inadequate recruitment
Mumbai: The All India Bank Employees’ Association has given a call for an agitational programme, including bank-wise and state-wise strikes, culminating in a two-day all-India bank strike on January 19 and 20, to press its demand for adequate recruitment and to oppose outsourcing of regular jobs at public sector banks. With the number of bank customers increasing manifold and business volumes rising, there has been a sharp increase in employee workload. However, recruitment has been inadequate, said CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA.

Gold loan at your doorstep: Karnataka Bank launches facility in select centres
Karnataka Bank has launched a “Door-Step Gold Loan” facility named “KBL-Swarna Bandhu” for its customers. In a statement, Karnataka Bank said this is a unique product for gold loans with end-to-end digitization. Through this product, the Bank will be able to provide Gold Loan Services at the customer’s doorstep. 

HDFC Bank will be evaluated against global peers, says Jefferies report
International investors are more likely to club HDFC Bank with its global peers such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo to decide on their investment strategy as India's most-valued lender becomes the seventh-largest bank in the world by market value, said investment bank Jefferies.

IndusInd Bank announces multi-year global partnership with ICC ahead of World Cup 2023
IndusInd Bank announced its multi-year association with the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a Global Partner for the highly awaited ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Men’s events.

Amid boardroom disquiet, it's business as usual at Dhanlaxmi Bank
Chennai : Dhanlaxmi Bank's Endless saga of board room disquiet continues to make headlines, but that hasn't impacted the Kerala-based private lender's business performance. Though an independent director Sridhar Kalyanasundaram recently resigned from his post, charging the bank's board of directors with unethical conduct, unilateral arrogation of power, lack of comprehension of issues and factionalism while pointing out fingers at the current MD & CEO J K Shivan, the bank has done reasonably well as far as its financial performance is concerned during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

PNB hits over 4-year high, zooms 33% in 1 month; mcap nears Rs 1 trillion

The stock of the state-owned lender was trading at its highest level since July 2019. In the past one month, the stock has zoomed 33 per cent as compared to 1.7 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Further, in the past six months, it has skyrocketed 82 per cent as against 14.8 per cent rally in the benchmark index.

Bank of Baroda seeks buyers for its NZ subsidiary

Public sector Bank of Baroda (BoB) is seeking buyers for its New Zealand subsidiary, according to a document on the bank's website. The bank has sought interest from investment banks to help it find a buyer for Bank of Baroda (New Zealand) Ltd (BoB NZL)one of its eight overseas subsidiaries.

Bank of Maharashtra fails to attract buyers for loans to Asian Hotels (North)

Bank of Maharashtra failed to receive any firm bids for its loans of Asian Hotels (North), at the auction held on Tuesday, said people aware of the development. Asian Hotels (North) which operates the five-star property Hyatt Regency (Delhi).

Karnataka Bank to provide doorstep gold loan facility

Collaborative digital innovations

IndusInd Bank partners with ICC for premium cricket experience, shares up
IndusInd Bank Ltd.’s shares were up by 0.34 per cent after the company announced a multi-year global partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to provide a premium experience for its customers, employees, and cricket enthusiasts. 

Why is the RBI governor concerned about urban cooperative banks?
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das recently expressed concern over high gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio of 8.7% in urban cooperative banks (UCBs). Das emphasized the urgent need for these institutions to improve governance and focus on credit risks. Mints takes a look at the significance of UCBs and the central bank's initiatives to fortify these banks.

SBI Card tops peers in August
SBI Cards trumped peers in growth in August in terms of both growth in cards issued and the spends by customers while leader HDFC Bank lost market share.

Travel-based credit cards see 5-fold surge in demand, women take the lead
In the last year, IndiaLends saw 48% of its applications for travel-based credit cards come from members between 24-35 years, followed by 52% from members between 36–45 years. Geographically, this surge in applications is most prominent in the metropolitan cities of Bengaluru (30%), New Delhi (26%), Mumbai (20%), Hyderabad (12%), and the remaining from non-metro cities. 

Credit card spending among Indians rises 2.67% to Rs 1.48 trn in August
 

Demand for RuPay credit cards pips Visa and Mastercard in tier II cities
 

More NBFCs to hit debt market, securitise loans for funding
Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are expected to tap the debt market and securitise loans to meet their funding needs going ahead, experts have said.

L&T Finance to sell Rs 4,762 crore of distressed assets

L&T Finance is selling ₹4,762 crore of its distressed-asset loan book to three asset reconstruction companies by the end of this quarter to help clean up its books, said people with knowledge of the proposed move. Kotak Mahindra Bank-backed Phoenix ARC is set to acquire most of the 15 bid-out accounts, followed by CFM ARC and Prudent ARC, said the people cited above.

How to benefit from reverse merger of Ujjivan Financial Services
Axis Securities has recommended that investors buy Ujjivan Financial Services to capture 15 per cent arbitrage opportunity for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. 

Amazon Pay looks at expanding bank partnerships
Payments space major, Amazon Pay is looking to partner with more banks to expand its suite of credit products for customers and merchants, Vikas Bansal, whole-time director at the company, said at a press conference here on Wednesday.

PhonePe's hold over UPI tightens with 50% share
Mumbai: Even as UPI payments rise every month, the apps that enable these transactions continue to consolidate market share. PhonePe's market share has touched nearly 50% of the total value of transactions. In about 15 months from now, NPCI's 30% cap on individual third-party apps' market share in UPI transaction volume comes into force.
 

Bright Money raises $62 million in equity, debt funding
Fintech firm Bright Money on Wednesday said it has raised USD 62 million (about Rs 515 crore) round of funding from a clutch of investors.It has about 95 per cent of employees in India.The funding includes USD 50 million in debt from Encina Lender Finance and USD 12 million in equity led by Alpha Wave, Hummingbird, and PeakXV, Bright Money said in a statement on Wednesday.

UPI transactions eat into debit card purchases
Chennai: UPI transactions are eating into the market of debit cards as the latter registered a drop in both volume and value of transactions in the first half of the year, while UPI continued to grow. However, transactions using credit cards meant for high-value purchases remained unaffected.   

Binance to sell Russia business for undisclosed amount
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said on Wednesday it will sell its Russia business to newly-launched exchange CommEX, becoming the latest company to pull out of Moscow since the country began its war against Ukraine.

US crypto industry comes to Washington, but faces uphill struggle
Crypto companies are descending on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, but their push to advance industry-friendly laws is likely to be overshadowed by a fight over the federal budget and a Senate crackdown on the use of crypto for money laundering.

Bitcoin holds above $26,200; Toncoin, Polygon fall up to 3%

The major cryptocurrencies were trading in the red on Wednesday amid worries about the impact of higher-for-longer interest rates. The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading at around $1.05 trillion, falling 0.25% in the last 24 hours.

Customers can invest in MFs using Visa debit card
Mumbai: Visa, one of the leaders in digital payments, has introduced a new initiative that enables consumers to invest in mutual funds using their Visa debit cards.

How India’s MF ecosystem has evolved since the 90s
It is one of those days that most Gen X investors still remember vividly. A tryst with history on 16 May 1992. A long, serpentine queue had formed in the heart of India’s capital New Delhi early that morning. The restless queue, which was waiting for Unit Trust of India (UTI) to open its office, soon went berserk and the police had to be called in. And all this happened because UTI, the country’s largest fund house then, had launched a close-ended fund, Mastergain 92, and every investor wanted to lay their hands on it, says Dhirendra Kumar, CEO of Value Research.

Consistent funds: 28 schemes offer over 15% in 5, 7, 10-year horizons

Mutual fund investors, especially seasoned investors, always look for schemes that have performed consistently over a long period. That is why ETMutualFunds try to identify consistent performers regularly. We looked at the trailing returns of 144 equity schemes that have been in the market for 10 years and found out that 28 equity schemes have offered more than 15% in five, seven, and 10-year horizons.

ICICI Prudential PMS Contra Strategy turns Rs 1 crore into Rs 2.4 crore in 5 years. Details here
 

CVC Capital mulls sale of controlling stake in HealthCare Global
CVC Capital Partners is exploring selling its controlling stake in Indian cancer hospital chain HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. The private equity firm is looking to identify buyers for its 60.4% in the Mumbai-listed company, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. CVC’s stake is worth about $358 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

‘No tax sops for India inclusion in other global bond indexes’
With JPMorgan including India in its emerging market bond index from June 2024 without any tax policy change, the government has made it clear that it has no plans to offer any tax incentive for the bond inclusion in other index providers FTSE Russell and Bloomberg as well.

Govt plans to sell 50-year bond to cater to growing demand from insurance, pension funds
New Delhi: India will sell 50-year bonds for the first time, introducing ultra-long maturity debt to cater to the growing demand from insurance and pension funds.
 

Very difficult for Indian bond yields to slide lower from here: Lakshmi Iyer
Lakshmi Iyer, CEO-Investment & Strategy, Kotak Alternate Asset Managers, says the yield curve is likely to remain elevated for some more time. Rate hike may not be immediately on the cards, but a hawkish undertone given that global factors are dominating the scenario right now could well be the order of the day. Whether the US takes a longish pause or the intermittent pause they took about three months back – is going to be extremely data dependent. The yield curve in India is on a flattish terrain. Usually it is upward sloping. It looks like the flat yield curve is likely to stay at the elevated level for some more time.

India bond yields end higher as borrowing stays unchanged, eye on debt sale
Indian government bond yields ended higher on Wednesday as the government stuck to its borrowing target for the fiscal second half, contrary to market expectations of lowering supply.

Demand from insurers, PFs may have prompted Govt to introduce 50-year bonds: market experts
Demand for ultra-long securities from long-term investors such as pension funds and insurance companies, may have prompted the Government to include bonds of 50-year tenor in its borrowing calendar for the second half (H2) of FY24, say market experts. The longest tenor bonds that the Government has auctioned so far were of 40-year duration. According to the ‘Issuance Calendar for Marketable Dated Securities’ for H2, notified by the Reserve Bank of India in consultation with the Government, the Centre will mop up a total of Rs 30,000 crore through three auctions (of Rs 10,000 crore each) of 50-year Government Securities (G-Secs).

Adani Ports offers to buy back up to $195 mln of 2024 bond
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone will buy back as much as $195 million of its 2024 bond, the billionaire Gautam Adani-led company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

JP Morgan bond index inclusion: Fitch foresees minimal boost to India's credit profile

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said the inclusion of Indian sovereign bonds in JP Morgan's key emerging-market bond indexes will support a diversification of the investor base, but the positive effect on the country's credit profile will likely be marginal, at least in the near term.