Rupee strengthens further
Mumbai: The domestic currency gained 17 paise on Tuesday to close at 44.63/64, against Monday's closing of 44.80/81.

Forwards Market: The six-month annualised forward premium closed at 0.93 per cent up 34 basis points from the previous close at 0.59 per cent. Twelve month annualised premia closed at 0.77 per cent (0.67 per cent).

G-Secs: The benchmark 7.38 per cent 2015 paper closed at Rs101.35 at a yield of 7.20 per cent, The 7.55 per cent 2010 paper closed at Rs103.26, 16 paise higher than previous finish.

Call Rates: Stable at 4.75-4.80 per cent levels.
CBLO Market: Rs6,322.80 crore worth of trades were transacted, in the rate range of 4.65-5 per cent, being 142 in number.
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Kotak Life launches unit-linked Flexi Plan
Mumbai: Kotak Life Insurance has launched the Kotak Flexi Plan, a unit-linked insurance plan positioned as a flexible scheme where a customer can modify the cover, choose investment profile and add or withdraw money from investments. According to the company, Kotak's suite of unit-linked plans, which include Kotak Safe Investment Plan II and Kotak Easy Growth Plan, gets complete with the new offering.

Kotak Flexi Plan guarantees the maturity sum assured even where the customer opts for 80 per cent equity exposure. The insurer's expense charges in the first year range from 28 per cent for a three-year premium paying term to 65 per cent for a 15-year or more premium paying term.

The charges would be 4.37 per cent every year of operation from the second year. The expense charges are deducted upfront in the form of units.
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RBI directive on `Know Your Customer' operations for banks
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to put in place a proper policy framework on the `Know Your Customer' guidelines and `Anti-Money Laundering' measures with the approval of their boards, within the next three months.

In a circular issued to the chiefs of all commercial banks, RBI has said, banks may ensure that information sought from the customer is relevant to the perceived risk, is not intrusive, and is in conformity with the guidelines issued in this regard.

Any other information from the customer should be sought separately with his or her consent and after opening the account.
Banks should continue to ensure that any remittance of funds by way of demand draft, mail telegraphic transfer or any other mode and issue of travellers cheques for value of Rs50,000 and above is effected by debit to the customer's account or against cheques and not against cash payment, the apex bank has said.

The RBI has emphasised that banks can effectively control and reduce their risks only if they have an understanding of the normal and reasonable activity of the customer so that they have the means of identifying transactions that fall outside the regular pattern of activity. However, the extent of monitoring will depend on the risk sensitivity of the account. Banks should pay special attention to all complex, unusually large transactions and all unusual patterns, which have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose, the central bank has said.

Every bank should set key indicators for such accounts, taking note of the background of the customer, such as the country of origin, sources of funds, the type of transactions involved and other risk factors.
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IOB to raise a further Rs.150 crore as Tier-II capital
Chennai: Indian Overseas Bank plans to raise Rs150 crore as Tier-II capital.

The bank had already raised Rs200 crore in July to augment its resources. The bank's capital adequacy was at 13.47 per cent as of September 2004.

The bank said, "Our credit expansion is better than expected. We expect to cross Rs4,000 crore in credit compared to the target of Rs3,100 crore. We have taken approval from the board to raise extra capital, as a measure of extra comfort. We may raise the money any time before March 31, 2005."
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HSBC launches global net banking channel for CMS
Mumbai: The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd has launched HSBCnet, a global Internet banking channel providing real time access to cash management solutions. This offering complements the Hexagon ABC, the bank's payment services platform.

The Web-enabled delivery channels offer solutions for receivables, payables and liquidity management. The service is secure and available anytime, anywhere in the world, according to the bank.
HSBC has also widened its product suite and delivery channels for payments and cash management services (CMS) to corporates in India.

The bank has also strengthened its `integrated payments solutions' (IPS), its offering in the Asia-Pacific region allowing the seamless execution of electronic and paper-based payments, by the introduction of cheque outsourcing service.

HSBC India has around 450 corporates, who avail of CMS from the bank. In fact, the Indian CMS business is one of major contributors to the revenue and business of the bank's Asian operations, officials said.

HSBC has a presence in 21 countries in the Asia Pacific. Of these, India and China make substantial contributions to the banks revenue and business form CMS.
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NHB: Rates hiked on capital gains bonds
New Delhi: The National Housing Bank has increased the rates of interest on its Capital Gains Bonds issued in 2002. The new rates would come into effect from December 1.

Accordingly, for a five-year tenor with put/call option at the end of three years for amounts up to Rs 1crore, the revised rate of interest stands at 5.35 per cent against the existing 5.10 per cent, while in the case of amounts of Rs1 crore and above, the new rate is 5.45 per cent against 5.10 per cent.

For seven-year tenor with put/call option at the end of five years, the revised rate is 5.50 per cent against 5.25 per cent.
The bonds are rated `AAA' with stable outlook from Crisil, a NHB release said.
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AIBEA to oppose Govt. initiatives for banking reforms
Hyderabad: The All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has resolved to strongly oppose the banking sector reforms currently being initiated by the Government.

At the concluding session of its five-day national conference here, AIBEA has resolved to fight against the Government's move towards dilution of its holdings in public sector banks (PSBs), merger of banks, and takeover of Indian private banks by foreign entities, and continued neglect of regional rural banks (RRBs) and co-operative banks.

In a press release here, AIBEA said the conference has decided to go in for "intensive and extensive struggles including strike actions" if necessary.
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