RBI eases foreign currency accounts guidelines
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has said the balances in the Export Earners' Foreign Currency (EEFC) account and resident foreign currency RFC (D) accounts may be credited to NRE/FCNR-B accounts at the request of the account holders if their residential status is changed from resident to non-resident. It has also allowed an Indian resident to open, hold and maintain foreign currency account with a bank outside or in India if he is a project/service exporter.

Accordingly, the approving authority of the overseas contract — be it an authorised dealer or the Exim Bank or a working group — may approve the proposal of exporter, to open, hold and maintain foreign currency account in India. Further, it has allowed a foreign embassy / diplomat / consulate general to purchase and sell immovable property in India other than agricultural land, plantation property and farm house provided it gets a clearance from the centre.
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Bank of Baroda to raise Rs 600-crore tier-II capital
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda will enter the debt market with its Rs 600-crore subordinated bond issue. The bonds will have a tenure of 124 months and the coupon rate will be in the range of 5.80-5.90 per cent. Sources were quoted as saying that BoB might raise a lower amount from the market, even though it has the approval to mop up Rs 600 crore.

The bank will raise the funds through private placement of bonds and is being lead-managed by its own subsidiary BOB Capital Market Ltd. The issue is to augment its tier-2 capital. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank for the fiscal ended 31 March 2003 was 12.65 per cent. The tier-1 capital constituted 8.10 per cent with tier-2 being at 4.55 per cent.
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Centrum Finance to enter stock broking business
Mumbai: Centrum Finance Ltd, a listed investment banking company, plans to enter the stock broking and investment management businesses. The company presently offers investment banking services in both equity and debt segments, distribution of financial products, money changing and consulting services.

"We will launch stock broking business in October and investment management service will follow. With this launch, the company will be able to offer a large variety of financial products to our customers," Kamlesh Gandhi, executive director, said. The company will target the middle segment of the market and a lower cost of service and relationship management in providing the service will be its competitive edge amid prevailing competition in the portfolio and investment management services.
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RBI eases bancassurance norms
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has said that banks need not obtain prior approval for engaging in insurance agency business or referral arrangement without any risk participation, as long as they comply with IRDA regulations in this regard. In a circular to all commercial banks, the central bank has said banks should not force customers to go in only for a particular insurance company in respect of assets financed by the bank. The customers should be allowed to exercise their choice.

Banks desirous of entering into referral arrangement, besides complying with IRDA regulations, should also enter into an agreement with the insurance company concerned for allowing use of its premises and making use of theit existing infrastructure. The agreement should be for a period not exceeding three years at the first instance and the bank should have the discretion to renegotiate the terms depending on its satisfaction with the service or replace it by another agreement after the initial period.
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Sundaram Home Finance to expand operations in AP
Visakhapatnam: Sundaram Home Finance Ltd (SHFL) is expanding its operations in Andhra Pradesh by opening branches at Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada and organising outreach programmes at Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Guntur.

Nitin Palany, managing director, said at a meeting here on Wednesday after inaugurating the local branch at Dwarakanagar that SHFL was a subsidiary of the 50-year-old Sundaram Finance group with equity participation by International Finance Corporation (USA) and FMO (The Netherlands). It had a sizeable presence in the southern states and, after consolidating its position in the market, it will later expand to the north, he said.
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