Allahabad Bank led consortium ties up with Japanese firm in non-life venture
Kolkata: The consortium formed by Allahabad Bank and others for foraying into non-life insurance business, will tie up with Japanese firm Sompo as its overseas partner for the venture.

Sompo would hold 26 per cent equity in the company. The India partners are Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Karnataka Bank and Dabur, which would hold 30 per cent, 19 per cent, 15 per cent and 10 per cent equity respectively. The initial seed capital for the venture would Rs 200 crore, sources said.

The consortium would approach the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) for obtaining approval for the same, after which a company would be formed.
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SBI employees reject FM's call to end strike
New Delhi: Striking SBI employees have rejected Finance Minister P Chidambaram's appeal to call off their agitation. The Union said the strike would continue till the time an agreement is reached on its demand for higher pension. Earlier, speaking in Bangalore, Chidambaram said the unions had presented a modified version of their demands and the management had suggested that it needed time to consider it.

Chidambaram had appealed to the union saying that a solution would be found soon and there was no need to inconvenience people by continuing the strike. With the strike reaching its fifth day, SBI's ATMs across the country are going dry. Central government employees posted in Jammu and Kashmir are not receiving their salary cheques which are held up in various bank branches.

The nationwide strike by SBI employees has paralysed the functioning of the bank. Cheques worth several thousand crores remain uncleared.
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PNB plans to strengthen customers' grievance cell
New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank is planning to make the going for customers easier by setting up a Chief Host Scheme.

Explaining the Chief Host Scheme, B P Chopra, general manager, Punjab National Bank, Haryana Zone, said, "The Chief Host scheme has been nominated at the zonal level, where customers get responses to grievances within 45 minutes of receiving the complaint after coordinating with the respective branch.

In case the Chief Host cannot get across to the complainant customer within 45 minutes, the complainant will receive the latest status report by courier within 24 hours. This facility is open to all customers of PNB branches.

Chopra said that to cater to the requirements of different segments of customers, the bank has opened specialised branches for large corporate, mid corporate, exporters, small scale sector, traders, agriculture etc. to meet their specific requirements.
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Union Bank to increase focus on rural credit
Kochi: The Union Bank of India plans to give greater thrust to rural and agricultural credit from this year onwards. The chairman of the Union Bank, M.V. Nair said: "With loan recovery rate in agriculture becoming better than that in industry in several instances, banks are critically placed to promote agricultural and rural credit."

Under the concept, the Village Knowledge Centre is developed by Union Bank's local rural branch, which provides a computer with Internet connection to the village, as well as literature on the crops grown in the area, current developments in the markets and prices. Inclusive banking is practised by providing a bank account to every one of the households in the village.

The bank, which has 2,080 branches across the country, plans to create a village knowledge centre at every one of its 800 rural branches. The knowledge centres are expected to promote crop diversification, augment productivity and extend horticultural practices.
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Indian Bank may float IPO
Chennai: Indian Bank may float an initial public offer (IPO) in January or February 2007, according to K.C. Chakrabarty, chairman and managing director, Indian Bank. The Cabinet approval for writing off its accumulated losses of Rs 3,830 crore against its capital base of Rs 4,574 crore was announced on Wednesday. Chakrabarty said that the IPO would happen in the bank's Centenary year, which commences on August 15, 2006. He said that the IPO would be timely since some of the pre-IPO costs would be absorbed by the centenary celebrations budget.
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