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ING Vysya Bank divests stake in ING insurance
Bangalore: The ING Vysya Bank has divested its 14.87 per cent stake in the ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Ltd in favour of Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd (GACL).

According to a press release issued by ING Vysya Life Insurance, the stake sale has been made for a consideration of Rs60.9 crore. The sale is subject to approval by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. The release gave no other details.

With the sale ING Vysya Bank would be completely divesting holding in favour of GACL. This stake sale is expected to boost the first quarter bottom line of ING Vysya Bank that had ended the last financial year with a net loss of Rs38.18 crore.

The ING group of the Netherlands is the largest stakeholder in the insurance company currently capitalised at Rs345 crore. The ING group holds 26 per cent of the stake. The other major stakeholders in the insurance company are GMR Vasavi group and Enam Financial.

The stake sale is unlikely to impact the bancassurance arrangements with the ING Vysya Bank.
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ISO for Canara Bank office
Mangalore: The Mangalore circle of Canara Bank has been awarded the ISO 9001: 2000 certificate by Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi.

A bank release said here that the Mangalore circle office embarked upon the idea to secure ISO certification for itself so that branches and offices of the entire circle can be motivated for adopting quality management system (QMS) in their day-to-day functioning.

The Mangalore Circle - which covers Mangalore, Goa, Hassan, Shimoga and Hubli regional offices - has control over 256 branches. It may be mentioned here that the Founder's Branch of Canara Bank got ISO certification in 1999.
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Banking Results: Karnataka Bank
Karnataka Bank Q4 net up 46 per cent
Mangalore: The Karnataka Bank has reported a net profit of Rs40.25 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2005 against Rs27.55 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a 46 per cent growth.

The bank registered a net profit of Rs147.15 crore during 2004-05 against Rs133.17 crore in the previous fiscal, recording 10.5 per cent growth.

In a press release, bank officials said that the bank had provided for depreciation on account of transfer of SLR securities from 'available for sale' category to `held to maturity' category as permitted by the Reserve Bank of India and also for the impact on wage revision.

The release said that the bank has proposed a dividend of 20 per cent on the expanded capital base.

During 2004-05, the bank recorded an operating profit of Rs340.71 crore (Rs329.79 crore). As on March 31, 2005, the net NPA stood at 2.29 per cent (4.98 per cent on March 31, 2004). The capital adequacy ratio, which was 13.03 per cent as on March 31, 2004, increased to 14.16 per cent in the last fiscal.

The release said that the net-owned funds had crossed the Rs1,000-crore mark.

The bank has networked 276 offices under core-banking solution, covering 92 per cent of business. The bank will increase the number of branches to 400 during this fiscal.

During 2004-05, the bank crossed a total business of Rs17,000 crore. Deposits grew 15.2 per cent to touch Rs10,837 crore, and advances by 34.7 per cent to Rs6,287 crore.
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