23 aug 2003

bajaj allianz offers motor cover for wiaa members
mumbai: bajaj allianz general insurance company will soon team up with the western india automobile association (wiaa) to offer a motor insurance policy for the latter's members. a memorandum of understanding to this effect is expected to be signed shortly. with this tie-up, the company hopes to cash in on the captive database of the association whose members are already educated in safe-driving techniques, sources were quoted as saying.
nitin dossa, chairman, wiaa, said the policy will offer a range of benefits to wiaa's 50,000 members including enabling cashless claims etc. "with the de-tarriffing of motor insurance from april 1,2005, wiaa hopes to do a business of more than 5 lakh private cars under this unique policy, targeting a premium income in excess of rs 100 crore," he said. "once de-tarriffing takes place, the association will be in a position to bargain with companies and get a high discount on the premium from insurance companies," he added.

hdfc to open office in erode
coimbatore: hdfc will open a branch office at erode on august 25. it will be its 13th office in tamil nadu. the new office will serve the needs of its clients in erode, gobichettipalayam, perundurai, bhavani, etc. r.v.s. rao, executive director, will
inaugurate the branch.

iib to change its stripes
coimbatore: indian institute of bankers (iib), a 75-year-old organisation, has resolved to change its name. it will now be called the indian institute of banking and finance. iib has amended its charter and got the approval for effecting the name change from the central government.
the iib board is to meet on august 28 for passing a special resolution to this effect. r.h. sarma, chief executive officer, iib told that this was a repositioning exercise. "the institute had in the last four decades concentrated only on conducting examination (for bankers). in the post-liberalisation era, newer players have emerged and with it the risk factor has also increased. this has compelled the bankers to acquire new skills to face the challenge. the iib has realised the need to gear up professionals for the morrow," he said.

syndicate bank rs 100-crore bonds fully subscribed
bangalore: syndicate bank has "successfully" placed its rs 100-crore bond issue, says a bank release. the issue was closed on 19 august after the targeted amount was raised in just one day. the bond issued for slightly under 7 years, and priced at 6.10 per cent.
the release said the bonds will be treated as part of the tier two capital and used for expanding its asset base. the pricing is about 70 basis points (0.7 per cent) above the sovereign yields for bonds with a similar maturity profile. however, the pricing is also slightly higher (10 basis points) than the maximum term deposit rate of the bank.

sbh to organise personal loan utsav
hyderabad: state bank of hyderabad (sbh) is organising a personal loan utsav at visweswaraiah bhavan on august 24. bulk loans would be sanctioned as per eligibility. housing loans, car loans and education loans would also be sanctioned at huge concessions in interest rates and hassles-free documentations.

22 aug 2003

pnb hikes fcnr rates on select maturities
new delhi: punjab national bank (pnb) has revised interest rates on the foreign currency non-resident (banks) scheme for dollar (us), pound (gbp) and the euro with effect from 22 august. the rate of interest on dollar deposits have been revised from 1.15 per cent to 1.14 per cent for less than one year to less than 2 years, from 1.69 per cent to 1.85 per cent for 2 years to less than 3 years and from 2.30 to 2.54 per cent for maturities of three years only.
the rate for pound has been revised from 3.55 per cent to 3.58 per cent for one year to less than 2 years, from 3.83 per cent to 3.91 per cent for 2 years to less than 3 years and from 4.01 to 4.11 per cent for maturities of three years only. the interest rate for euro deposit has been revised from 2 per cent to 2.03 per cent for maturity of 1 year to less than 2 years, from 2.42 per cent to 2.47 per cent for maturity of 2 years to less than 3 years and from 2.77 per cent to 2.83 per cent for maturity of 3 years only.

federal bank tier-ii issue fully subscribed
kochi: federal bank has successfully raised rs 75 crore through private placement issue of unsecured redeemable non-convertible subordinated bonds. the issue of rs 75 crore, including the green shoe option of rs 25 crore, opened on august 11 and closed on thursday.
though the closing date was 25 august, the issue closed early as the issue including the green shoe option got fully subscribed. the bank's earlier tier ii issue of rs 150 crore was made in february, and was also fully subscribed. with these two recent issues, the bank's capital adequacy level is expected to be above 12 per cent in march 2004.

indusind, uti bank to share atms
mumbai: indusind bank has concluded a memorandum of understanding with uti bank for sharing of atms, both existing and proposed. dr p j nayak, chairman and managing director of uti bank, and bhaskar ghose, managing director of indusind bank, signed an agreement to this effect.
nayak said shared networks will be the future of the banking industry, as this will minimise "geographical overlap of atms and provide better coverage to customers." also, network sharing helps the banks to sharpen the economies of scale and minimise the cost of servicing their customers, he felt. uti bank has a network of 206 branches and extension counters and 950 atms spread across 90 cities and towns.

cholamandalam may buy asset management firm
chennai: the murugappa group is all set to acquire an asset management company (amc). "we are considering one," said m anandan, managing director of cholamandalam investment and finance company, a group company which has a amc subsidiary. anandan, however, did not want to reveal the name of the company under consideration, pending finalisation of the deal. "we are not going to pay rs 100 crore for acquiring an amc."
he said that the acquisition will be only for the asset portfolio, rather than for something like a brand name. he said the "balance-sheet size" of cholamandalam investment this year will be around rs 1,300 crore. on the liability side, about rs 700 crore will come from debentures and short-term papers placed with various mutual funds. about rs 250 crore will come from securitisation of the company's assets. the rest would come from cp/fcnr (b) loans from banks.

bharat co-op bank installs core banking solution
mumbai: bharat co-operative bank, an urban cooperative bank with about 30 branches, has said it has implemented omnienterprise, an enterprise-wide core banking solution of infrasoft technologies ltd. the bank said that it is the first cooperative bank in india to implement a core banking solution.

iob to price issue at rs 14 premium
chennai: indian overseas bank's public issue will be at a premium of rs 14 per share, it was decided at the bank's board meeting on thursday. the bank expects to raise rs 240 crore through the issue, of which rs 140 crore will go towards the share premium account. the issue will hit the market on 5 september, says the bank's chairman and managing director, sc gupta.

21 aug 2003