stanchart plans asian buyouts
singapore: standard chartered bank is keen to buy more banks in asia. patrick gillam, chairman of the bank, said the bank hoped to acquire a hong kong bank if hong kong authorities pushed through finance sector reforms. he did not name the bank.

rbi’s mid-year review of the monetary and credit policy
mumbai: the reserve bank of india governor, bimal jalan presented the mid-year review of the monetary and credit policy measures to bank chairmen for the year 1999-2000.

crr - the cash reserve ratio has been reduced to nine per cent, a reduction of one percentage point. this is a clear indication from the rbi that it wants interest rates to climb further down. banks have been exempted from adhering to the cash reserve ratio requirements for deposits collected through the foreign currency non-resident (fcnr) scheme. these two measures will release around rs.8,060 crore worth liquidity into the system

interest rates - the 30 per cent interest rate surcharge on import finance has been done away with. the rbi has also removed the 20 per cent minimum interest rate limit on export bills that are overdue. banks are now free to charge interest on overdue bills as they wish to. banks will also be allowed to lend below their prime lending rates in a few sectors.