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Rupee, bonds flat
Mumbai: The rupee remained more or less unchanged against the US dollar ending at 45.75/7550, almost unchanged from Friday's close of 45.76/77.

Forwards: The six-month premia closed at 0.52-0.56 per cent (0.53 per cent) and the one-year at 0.42-0.45 per cent (0.46 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.49 per cent - 12-year 2017 paper closed at Rs101.65 (7.27 per cent YTM), a tad higher than Friday's level of Rs101.62 (7.28 per cent YTM).The 7.37 per cent-nine-year 2014 paper ended at Rs102.51 (6.96 per cent YTM), almost unchanged from the previous close of Rs102.50 (6.97 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent-10-year 2015 paper was dealt at Rs102.10 (7.07 per cent YTM) against the earlier level of Rs102.04 (7.08 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Though in the earlier part of the day, call rates were quoted at 6.25, they eased to close at 5.40-5.50 per cent (6.20-30 per cent). This was a positive signal for the market.

Reverse Repo: In the one-day reverse repo, under the liquidity adjustment facility, the RBI received and accepted five bids amounting to Rs1,465 crore.

CBLO: There were 318 trades for Rs12,054.10 crore in the rate range of 5.25-6.30 per cent.
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Federal Bank to complete US$80mn GDR issue before Dec.15
Kochi: The Federal Bank says it would complete its US$80mn GDR (global depository receipts) issue before December 15, which is expected to bring in an additional Rs350 crore and increase the net worth of the bank to Rs1,100 crore.

The inflow of funds will take care of the capital adequacy requirements of the bank and fulfill the Basel II norms, as well as the growth needs of the bank for the next couple of years according to M. Venugopalan, chairman of the bank.

The bank says that if the target date of December is not achieved the entire programme would be delayed till January 15 on account of the holiday season of Christmas and New Year in Western Europe. The bank had earlier obtained shareholders approval for a $100-million GDR at its last AGM.

The capital accretion will bring down ICICI Bank's stake holding in Federal Bank from the current 21 per cent to around 15 per cent.
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Banks increase foreign exposure
Mumbai: Banks have increased their international liabilities and assets in India during the quarter ended March 2005. Liabilities were almost double the international assets and rose by Rs16,615 crore at the end of March 2005, compared to its position in the previous quarter.

The increase in liabilities was primarily due to the considerable rise in NRE rupee deposits, foreign currency borrowings, FCNR(B) deposits and capital/remittable profits of foreign banks in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin for November.

International assets of banks grew by Rs5, 648 crore for the March 2005 quarter, over the position in the previous quarter. The growth was due to considerable increase in foreign currency loans to residents, outstanding export bills and investment in other debt securities, the RBI said.

The international claims of banks on India (i.e., India's liabilities) stood at US$44.9bn at the end of March 2005, US$11.7bn more than a year ago, whereas the international claims of Indian banks on other countries (India's assets) stood at $17.0 billion - less by US$0.5bn over the position a year ago.
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Friction seen between banks, insurance over bancassurance tie-ups
Mumbai: Friction is developing between banks and insurance companies over bancassurance tie-ups. Banks feel they have got a raw end of the stick while selling policies of insurance firms.

Insurance companies on the other hand, which tied-up with banks for strengthening their distribution network through the latter's large geographical presence, are facing the heat as the banks feel they have not been benefited as much as the insurance companies have.

The banking industry is considering approaching the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow them multiple tie-ups. According to RBI policy banks can only sell products of only one non-life and life insurance entity. On the contrary, an insurance company can tie up with any number of banks it wishes to.

The bankers feel that the insurance companies incur negligible overhead costs for enhancing the insurance company's distribution network. They also say that the customer acquisition cost is lower as insurance companies get readymade clients. On the other hand, if the customer is not serviced well by the insurance company the image of the bank gets hampered.
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Karur Vysya Bank to expand operations
Srirangam: The Karur Vysya Bank with branches in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and with a total business of Rs11,450 crore, is planning to spread its reach to other States.

The bank has opened branches at Chandigarh and Ludhiana, and would soon open a branch at Amritsar. The bank plans to open 16 more branches, subject to RBI permission.

The bank earned a net profit of Rs160 crore in 2004-05, and for the second year in succession gave a 100 per cent dividend to its shareholders.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio would touch 18 per cent by this year-end, against the RBI norm of nine per cent. Of the bank's 234 branches, 186 branches had ATMS that would help the customers use the core-bank facility. The bank's non-performing assets are as low as 1.35 per cent.
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UK Bank selects Polaris's banking solution
Mumbai: Polaris Software Lab, a global provider of banking, insurance and financial technology solutions, said on Monday that the UK-based Llyods TSB had selected its 'Intellect Suite' as the banking solution for the international cash management offering.

The initial project revolves round the requirements for cash concentration where Llyods TSB plans to roll out an automated solution to replace current processes, Polaris informed the National Stock Exchange.

Bikash Mathur, Polaris Software Lab, EVP and Business Head EMEA, said "Intellect suite was chosen for its modular architecture and the unique ability to enable inter-operability across the bank's current systems and the new systems that the bank is adding."
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Syndicate Bank to set up BPO subsidiary
Chennai: Syndicate Bank is planning to set up a subsidiary for providing business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

According to a release issued by Syndicate Bank to the NSE today, the bank has received in-principle approval from the central government to set up the subsidiary.

The approval is subject to the condition that - the BPO services will initially be limited to financial institutions and clients of Syndicate Bank, and the bank will utilise its surplus manpower, premises and resources to set up and run the proposed BPO, the release added.
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