KVB, ECGC in pact for bancassurance
Chennai: Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has tied up with the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) to sell ECGC's insurance products. ECGC is a public sector company that provides insurance for losses arising out of non-payment by overseas buyers. Through the tie-up with KVB, ECGC expects to raise its reach, as the bank's branch network could be made use of for selling ECGC's products.
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ECGC ties up with Bank of Rajasthan
Mumbai: The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Bank of Rajasthan. With this tie-up, the bank will issue all policies of ECGC, which include standard, small exporters and specific shipment policies covering shipment comprehensive risk, through its 19 forex branches spread across the country. Soon, the facility will also be extended to all the bank's online branches, said a press release. The bank plans to link all metros, urban and semi-urban branches online in the next three years, offering `Anywhere banking' and demat facilities, the release said.
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Kerala notifies decision on SLI membership
Thiruvanathapuram: The State Government has notified a decision, which seeks to deny issue of annual increment to those employees who have not enrolled themselves into the State Life Insurance (SLI) scheme within the prescribed time limit. The maximum age limit for enrolling into the scheme is 50 years.

An official spokesman said here that the decision has been taken in view of the fact that some employees have intentionally avoided becoming members of the scheme till they attain the maximum age limit. But, it was clarified that the penal provision would not be applicable in the case of those who are unable to enrol themselves for reasons beyond their control.
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ICICI Lombard overseas travel cover for 71-85
Mumbai: ICICI Lombard General Insurance has introduced overseas travel cover for senior citizens aged between 71 years and 85 years under its Globetrotter Overseas Travel Insurance umbrella. The policy is aimed to meet the needs of approximately one lakh senior citizens per year, who mainly travel to the US, Europe and West Asia, said a press release. "We are happy to introduce a policy for senior citizens. With life expectancies going up, we are becoming older as a nation. The need for adequate protection through insurance is also on the rise. But senior citizens have limited insurance options available to them," said the release, quoting Kartik Jain, head marketing, ICICI Lombard General Insurance.

"With the increasing number of Indians going abroad for studies and work, the number of parents going to visit them is also on the rise. Our research showed that there was a strong felt need to make insurance policies available for senior citizens," Jain said. This insurance cover is designed to take care of emergencies such as medical expenses incurred for illness or accident, including any extra additional medical costs, if necessary, and prescribed transportation to India, loss of checked-in baggage etc. It also covers reasonable expenses necessarily incurred for emergency purchase of essential items in case of a delay in checked-in baggage for more than 12 hours, loss of passport, accidental body injury, personal liability resulting from death, injury or damage to a third party and hijack. ICICI Lombard's scheme will be made available through a network of over 1,200 travel agents across 51 cities in India, making it easily accessible, said the release. The proposal form along with a certificate of good health from a doctor needs to be submitted to the company.
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National Insurance, BoI tie up
Mumbai: National Insurance Company Ltd has tied up with Bank of India for the sale of its insurance policies. Both parties have signed an agreement for undertaking bancassurance business under the referral model, said a press release. "We have already specialised in bancassurance by tying up with 10 banking institutions and we are providing our best services to them. The customers of the bank will be highly benefited by getting financial and insurance products under one roof. They are assured of our best services, as they will be treated with highest priority," said the release quoting H.S. Wadhwa, chairman & managing director, National Insurance Company.

"The tie-up gives Bank of India an opportunity to utilise the existing infrastructure to augment its fee-based income. Apart from this arrangement being a platform for cross selling of the products of partners, we feel this can be used for value addition proposition by introduction of co-branded products," said M. Venugopalan, chairman and managing director, Bank of India. The sale of insurance products through this tie-up was also simultaneously launched at major centres throughout the country (New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabd, Chandigarh and Ludhiana) at specially arranged functions, the release said. National Insurance drawn up plans to step up growth momentum and it is aiming to have a decent growth in its premium volume during the current year over its previous year's Rs 2,870 crore. The premium target for the year 2003-04 has been set at Rs 3,200 crore, said the release.

The company has a network of 1,000 offices. Bank of India has a network of 2,550 branches spread across the country and 21 overseas branches (including three representative offices), with a customer base of 220 lakh. The bank has already put in place a marketing infrastructure for distribution of insurance products through their selected branches. While all Bank of India branches will be participating in the bancassurance business, 500 branches of the bank have been specially identified for giving a thrust to this initiative. National Insurance and Bank of India are confident of mobilising substantial insurance business through this joint initiative. The bancassurance tie-up had already resulted in over 150 policies with the total sum assured being Rs 400 crore, the release said.
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It's China ho for SBI
Mumbai: State Bank of India is gearing up to flag off commercial banking operations in China shortly. A.K. Purwar, chairman, SBI, told that the bank had written to the Chinese Government for permission to upgrade its representative office in Shanghai, and is waiting for regulatory approvals. "China offers tremendous business potential and we are particularly looking to tap the Indo-Chinese trade segment, corporates, exporters and importers etc," said Purwar. This is another move in line with SBI's aggressive expansion plans in the near future. In the next two years, the bank expects its international business to contribute at least 10 per cent to its profits. SBI also has plans to set up a domestic branch in the Mauritius shortly, where it already has an offshore banking unit.

The bank is looking to set up operations in Sri Lanka shortly and is also in the process of setting up additional branches in Bangladesh, Nepal etc. "We have been in Bangladesh for long , earlier we had only one branch there. But we found that it was a very profitable business, so we set up a second branch recently and will soon set up a third. "Similarly, Nepal has around 10 branches and we intend to add more", he said. Currently, SBI has around 50 offices internationally across 28 countries. Plans are underway to take it to 80 offices across 38 countries in around two years time, he said. SBI also maintains correspondent banking relationships with 593 `top-ranking' banks in 127 countries. The bank also recently formed a joint venture subsidiary with Canara Bank in Russia, `Commercial Bank of India,' which is expected to start operations shortly. SBI is expected to hold 60 per cent in the joint venture, with Canara Bank holding the remaining 40 per cent.

During the last financial year, the bank wound up its representative offices in Jakarta, Sao Paolo and Vietnam, as part of restructuring its representative office network. For the financial year March 31, the bank's foreign offices made a net profit of Rs 109.90 crore, up from Rs 3.08 crore in the corresponding period, the previous year. SBI's deposits outside India amounted to Rs 7,25,73,084 crore, as compared to Rs 8,01,13,313 crore in the corresponding period, the previous year. Borrowings outside India, amounted to Rs 9,30,36,194 crore as compared to Rs 9,32,39,446 crore in the previous year. SBI, which has already set up an offshore business unit (OBU) at SEEPZ, plans to set up another three OBUs in Vizag, Haldia and Surat shortly. Mr Purwar said, "one of the advantages in setting up OBUs where we already have a branch, like in SEEPZ, is that we don't have any major costs involved. We already have an existing customer base we can tap into".
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IDBI shareholder withdraws suit on share allotment
Mumbai: An IDBI shareholder has withdrawn the suit filed by him to stall the allotment of shares of the bank's Rs 154-crore rights issue, according to DSP Merrill Lynch, merchant banker to the issue. DSP Merrill Lynch on Tuesday informed the BSE, "We understand from IDBI Bank Ltd that as on date the suit has been withdrawn by J.H. Shah.'' Shah of Vision Organics, had filed a suit in the Vadodara court against the allotment of shares of the bank."The petitioner is a defaulter to the bank and owes the bank Rs 8.5 crore. He purchased a few shares of the bank in August this year and was trying to halt the rights issue,'' said a senior official in IDBI Bank.

The bank is to go ahead with the allotment in the board meeting scheduled for the coming week. The funds will augment the capital adequacy ratio of the bank to 10.5 per cent from 9 per cent, the regulatory minimum, and help grow its asset book. The bank's rights issue had been oversubscribed up to Rs 170 crore in October both from retail investors and financial institutions excepting the promoters. The promoters, IDBI and SIDBI were known to have been asked by the Reserve Bank of India to not participate in the rights issue since this would be contrary to the long-term goal of disinvestment in the bank. The bank is to get a new CEO & managing director following the resignation of the acting CEO, Ajay Bimbhet. The recommended names are with the Reserve Bank and the final name is expected to be announced in the coming month.
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