Cooperative society to introduce banking hour
Mangalore: Sri Lakshmananda Multipurpose Cooperative Society here is planning to introduce extended hour banking to its customers, said the president of the society, J Krishna Palemar. He said the society was planning to introduce this service at its third branch in Kavoor.

Karnataka Bank chairman K Ananthakrishna will inaugurate the Kavoor branch on 28 September he said. The society, with 2,000 members, has Rs 18 lakh share capital and Rs 3 crore working capital. During 2002-03, the society advanced Rs 2.8 crore and earned Rs 7.5 lakh profit. It has decided to distribute 18 per cent dividend to its members.
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Singapore to play host to World Bank, IMF meets
Dubai: Singapore will host the 2006 annual meetings of the World Bank group and the International Monetary Fund. A planning team from Singapore is here to observe the proceedings and arrangements. Lim Hng Kiang, second minister of finance and minister in the prime minister's Office, Singapore, signed a memorandum of understanding with Horst Köhler, managing director, International Monetary Fund, and James Wolfensohn, president, World Bank Group.

Goh Chye Boon, Director (Fiscal Policy), Singapore Ministry of Finance and Co-Chairman, 2006 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings Organising Committee, said: "We all are absolutely astounded with the Dubai International Convention Centre."
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Bank of New York to offer outsourced services
Mumbai: Bank of New York is planning to offer to mutual funds and later even to pension funds outsourced services. The bank, with only a representative office in Mumbai, will offer services such as administration, investing and compliance measures for making investments cross-border, bank vice-chairman Alan R Griffith said.

In India, the bank which claims to be the first bank in the US engages in depository receipts, global payments and trade finance but does not give loans or accept deposits. The bank has no immediate plans to convert its representative office into a branch, said Griffith.
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PNB opens offshore banking unit in Mumbai
New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has opened its first offshore banking unit (OBU) in Seepz, Mumbai. The OBU, inaugurated by chairman and managing director S S Kohli, will provide access to units and developers in special economic zones (SEZ) to international finances at international rates.

It will also provide efficient services to NRIs. OBUs permitted to be set up at to SEZs will be virtually foreign branches of Indian banks, but located in India and would be exempt from CRR and SLR requirements. PNB will also open another OBU at special economic zone in Noida shortly.
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RBI warns about luring funds
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India, reports suggest, has advised banks that have offshore units against accumulating large foreign currency funds which they may not be able to deploy profitably. This is because lending by OBUs to borrowers in the domestic tariff area is restricted and the cost of funds would work out to be higher for banks to deploy these funds to the units within the SEZ.

The RBI has cautioned banks against fixing aggressively high interest rates on their foreign currency deposits in their OBUs that are based in Mumbai. Bankers contend that if they cannot aggressively mobilise dollar deposits through the local OBUs, it does not augur well for most banks which are starved for dollar funds and have been eagerly awaiting the RIB redemptions as an opportunity to harness the greenbacks.
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American Express launches e-credit card
Mumbai: American Express has launched an e-credit card. It offers paperless statements, automatic payment facility, online fraud guarantee that protects cardmembers from any unauthorised charges made online with the card and emergency replacement in 24 hours in case of theft or loss anywhere in the world. The card has been introduced at a price of Rs 296.
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