Gilts range-bound; rupee tad firmer
Mumbai: The rupee closed at 43.71/7150 against the dollar, stronger compared to Friday's close of 43.75/76.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 1.47 per cent (1.53 per cent) and the 6-month premia closed at 1.71 (1.72 per cent).

G-Secs: Bond prices traded in a narrow range and saw a marginal rise of around ten paise in select maturities. The 10-year-7.38-per-cent 2015 benchmark paper closed at Rs102.75/85 (7.01 per cent YTM) against the Friday's close of Rs102.65 (7.02 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Inter bank rates closed steady at around 4.75 per cent.

CBLO market: 170 trades were realised aggregating Rs6,487.15 crore, in the rate range of 4.40-5 per cent.
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ING Vysya hopes to reduce NPAs to two per cent
Kochi: ING Vysya Bank has said that it expects the level of its bad loans to come down to two per cent of advances in the current fiscal, from 2.6 per cent in December 2004.

The bank, now in the midst of a rights issue, had seen its non-performing asset (NPA) levels coming down as part of a massive clean-up of its balance sheet it had carried out over the past couple of years. It wrote off assets and increased the provision for NPAs. In March 2004, the NPA level was 2.69 per cent.

ING Vysya Bank, in which Dutch financial institutions ING holds 44 per cent stake, is mobilising Rs307 crore through the rights issue. Officials said they did not expect the shareholding pattern of the bank to change following the issue, as all shareholders would participate in it.

With the opening of a new branch in Kochi at Palarivattom, the bank has 455 branches, and 87 ATM centres. It has also tied up with other banks to share ATMs.
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Centurion Bank plans to launch credit card
Bangalore: The Centurion Bank plans to launch its credit card by the third quarter of the current fiscal, and is in the process of deciding whether to opt for a proprietary card or tie up for a co-branded card. Officials said that the bank was also in the process of tying up with a general insurance company for distributing its product.

Centurion currently distributes the insurance products of Reliance and Bajaj Allianz. On COC, officials said that the facility would complement the bank's retail branch expansions and enable it to roll out the next phase of its pan-India growth strategy.

With Centurion focused on retail banking and aiming to hit the target of processing 1,00,000 new loans per month in about two months, the volume and the risk assessment - apart from the core responsibilities of bank reconciliation - and custody of documentation would assume mammoth proportions.

The facility would act as a back office for the bank's 99 branches that deal in retail assets, branch banking and trade finance activities. It would also help the bank standardise its processing and documentation for smoother handling of business.
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