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Rupee appreciates - bonds rise
Mumbai: The rupee slightly appreciated against the dollar on rumours of a second round of the revaluation of the Chinese yuan, closing at 43.6850/6950, higher than Thursday's close at 43.70/71.

Forwards market: The 12-month premia ended at 0.67 per cent (0.73) and the 6-month closed at 0.59 per cent (0.75).

G-Secs: The 7.37-9 year-2014 paper closed at Rs102.16 (7.03 per cent YTM), up from Thursday's Rs102.02 (7.05 per cent YTM). The 10.25 - 16 year-2021 paper closed at Rs125.56 (7.46 per cent YTM), higher than Thursday's Rs125.42 (7.47 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year 2015 benchmark paper was dealt at Rs102.10 (7.08 per cent YTM), the same level as Thursday.

Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 4.90-5 per cent (4.90-5).

Reverse repo: In the three-day auction, the RBI received and accepted 41 bids amounting to Rs25,435 crore.

CBLO market: 218 trades, for Rs9,062.75 crore in the rate range of 4.60-5.05 per cent, were realised.
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IRDA bars preference share route for insurers
New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has barred insurers, re-insurers and intermediaries as well as brokerages from infusing capital through the issue of preference shares or any other hybrid instruments other than equity shares.

"No insurance company shall issue any form of shares or hybrid instruments other than equity. Immediate steps should be taken to redeem such instruments under a time-bound programme, which has the prior approval of the authority," read the circular issued by the regulator.

Preference shares are instruments that carry no voting rights but are usually entitled to a higher dividend.

The IRDA issued the circular after some insurers and intermediaries had sought clarification as to whether they could issue preference shares or certain other forms of hybrid instruments for increasing the capital base.

"Non-compliance with the requirement would be viewed seriously," the regulator has warned in the circular.

The Insurance Act, 1938, provides that no public limited company by shares shall carry on life insurance business unless its paid up capital consists of only ordinary shares, each of which has a single face value.

According to the act, the same rules apply to general insurance companies as well.

Under the present norms, insurance companies are allowed to raise the equity base by infusing capital at periodic intervals. However, the insurer could effect transfer of equity shares with the prior approval of the regulator, IRDA said.
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Corporation Bank launches clearing bank facility for the MCX
Mumbai: The Mangalore-based Corporation Bank is set to open a representative office in Dubai, and expects to receive approval for its foray within two to three weeks, bank officials said.

NRI deposits form about 15 per cent of the bank's total deposits and bulk of the NRI deposits come from Gulf. The bank also has tie-ups with seven exchange houses in the UAE to offer money remittance to India.

The bank in the meanwhile has announced the launch of a clearing bank facility for Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), here on Friday. The bank would open the clearing accounts with electronic debit facility for the brokers who are members of MCX.

The bank would also offer other need-based facilities to brokers such as overdraft and bank guarantee. The service would be available in 479 branches, which are part of the Core Banking Solution network.

According to the bank's officials, there were currently over 1,000 brokers who are members of MCX, and it hoped to bring in the maximum number within the bank. They said that the bank would benefit from the large current balances that brokers would have to maintain with them.

The bank has also announced the launch of the Corporation Bank's online Euro remittance for NRIs in Germany. The bank has tied up with Payquick and Deutsche Bank to provide this facility. Currently, the bank offers US dollar remittance facility for NRIs in US and sees about 300-500 remittances per month.

Corporation Bank hopes to add 60 branches in this fiscal, which will take the total number of branches to 837.
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