Chennai, May 20 : Private sector City Union Bank plans to open around 80 branches and add more automated teller machines (ATM) this year, a top official said Monday.

"We plan to open 75-80 branches this year. Currently, we have 375 branches and 790 ATMs. We will continue to maintain the branch-ATM ratio of 1:2," N. Kamakodi, managing director, told reporters here.

Announcing the bank's financial results for 2012-13, he said: "The bank earned a total income of Rs. 2,462.39 crore and a net profit of Rs. 322.02 crore as against Rs. 1,903.90 crore and Rs. 280.25 crore respectively earned during
2011-12."

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should become the regulator for all loans, including home loans, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said.

Speaking at the fifth ICC Banking Summit, Mr. Chaudhuri said that there was no justification for having different regulators for different verticals like industrial loans, vehicle loans and home loans.

Speaking on the topic, he added, “Perhaps, the objective of the regulations is better served with RBI itself becoming the sole regulator for all loans, including home loans.”

Kolkata, May 18 : The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), Saturday the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should become the sole regulator for all home loan institutions - banks as well as housing finance companies.

"Where is the justification for a separate home loan regulator? Why should not the RBI become the sole regulator," asked SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri while talking to reporters on the sidelines of an ICC Banking Summit here.

Kolkata, May 18 : Public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Pratip Chaudhuri Saturday said the lender's margins in overseas business were under pressure.

However, non performing asset (NPA) levels of the country's largest lender in the fourth quarter last fiscal remained low compared to third quarter.

Kolkata, May 18 : Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman of the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), said Saturday that the RBI and SEBI should start public awareness campaigns for depositors on the risk of investing in shady companies.

Chaudhuri's comment came amid the chit-fund catastrophe in West Bengal after the collapse of the scam-tainted Saradha Group.

"Regulatory authorities, particularly RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), should launch campaigns," Chaudhuri told reporters on the sidelines of the ICC Banking Summit here.

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has indicated that it will announce an issue of inflation-indexed bonds (IIBs) for launch on 4 June.

The government and the central bank have been concerned over rising gold imports into the country. Experts said that it is now known if the inflation-indexed bonds will be a substitute for gold or if it will simply complement investments in gold. They said that the IIBs will become an attractive investment option the yield offered will be determined by the market forces as the the investors will launch bids for the instrument.

In a bid to provide companies with easier access to cheaper funds for key infrastructure sectors, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday relaxed external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms.

The central bank said it extended the ECB relaxation for the housing sector from one year to two more years and for the aviation sector by a few more months.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reportedly found a string of anomalies and violations on several counts by banks.

The central bank, which had launched a probe in wake of Cobrapost's sting operations showing officials of nearly 33 public and private sector banks facilitating money laundering, found that non-compliance to Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms, usage of dummy PAN cards, and unauthorized gold sales are widespread among banks.

New Delhi, May 13 : Bank of Baroda's net profit for the quarter ending March 31 dipped to 32.21 percent, the public sector bank told the Bombay Stock Exchange.

It has posted a net profit of Rs. 1,028.85 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, as compared to Rs. 1,518.18 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Total income has increased from Rs. 9,016.31 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, to Rs. 10,262.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

In its latest monetary policy review, the central bank of India has announced a reduction in the repo rate by 25 basis points from 7.5 per cent to 7.25 per cent in order to improve liquidity and boost falling economic growth in the country.

One of India's leading state-owned bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has recorded a fall of 20.6 per cent in tis net profit during the quarter from January to March, 2013.

New Delhi, May 9 : Punjab National Bank's net profit dropped 20.6 percent during the fourth quarter (January to March) of fiscal 2012-13.

It posted net profit of Rs. 1,130.8 crore during the quarter compared to Rs. 1,424.06 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Total Income increased from Rs. 10,964.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 to Rs. 11,552.84 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

It posted a net profit of Rs. 4,747.67 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013 as compared to Rs. 4,884.20 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012.(IANS)

Chennai, May 9 : Government-owned Indian Bank closed last fiscal with a Rs. 166 crore fall in its net profit owing to higher provisioning for bad debts and other accounts despite the total income going up by Rs. 1,717 crore.

Announcing the annual results for 2012-13 here Thursday, chairman and managing director T. M. Bhasin said: "The provisioning in absolute terms went up by Rs. 400 crore to around Rs. 704 crore."

The bank's total income stood at Rs. 15,180 crore last fiscal, up from Rs. 13,463 crore posted in 2011-12.

New Delhi, May 9 : Public sector Union Bank posted a 2.07 percent rise in net profit to Rs. 789 crore for the last quarter (January-March) of the 2012-13 financial year from Rs. 773 crore clocked during the corresponding period in 2011-12.

The net interest margin (NIM) for the fourth quarter of 2012-13 was at 2.89 percent compared to 3.16 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011-12.

For the whole fiscal (2012-13), the bank's net profit went up by 20.76 percent to Rs. 2,158 crore from Rs. 1,787 crore in 2011-12.

State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) on Wednesday reported a year-on-year decline of 21 per cent in net profit for the fourth quarter of FY2012-13, mainly because of higher provisioning for bad assets.

SBH said that higher provisioning for bad assets dragged its net profit down to Rs 380 crore in the three months ended March 31, 2013, from Rs 481 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

For the full fiscal year of 2012-13, the bank's net profit slipped 3.7 per cent to Rs 1,250 crore, as against Rs 1,298 crore in the previous fiscal.

It is the responsibility of the government and tax authorities to check money laundering, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

RBI Governor D Subbarao said that banks neither the central bank nor individual banks were directly responsible to inquire about the source of income.

Speaking on the topic, Subbarao said, "RBI is not directly involved... Even banks are not directly responsible. They are not expected to inquire about the source of income. It is for government and tax authorities to check money laundering."

Hyderabad, May 8 : State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) has reported net profit decline of 3.70 percent for fiscal 2012-13. The profit during the year was Rs. 1,250 crore against Rs. 1,298 crore during 2011-12.

Announcing the results for the fourth quarter and the year, SBH managing director M. Bhagavantha Rao attributed the decline to Rs. 485 crore provided for strengthening the balance sheet. He said the bank increased the provision coverage ratio to 65 percent from 62.40 percent.

New Zealand’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has admitted that it had made an intervention in the foreign exchange markets in the previous month in order to lower the value of the currency.

While speaking in front of the Parliament's finance and expenditure select committee, Governor Graeme Wheeler said, “That intervention will not materially change the level of the exchange rate but could take potentially the tops off rallies. In terms of activity, there's been an intervention.”

HSBC has said in a regulatory filing yesterday that it is cooperating with US Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue System (IRS) in their investigations on whether HSBC companies and employees played a role in tax evasion by some of the customers.

HSBC has hinted that it expects heavy penalties for the involvement of its Indian unit in tax evasion by some of the US based Indian origin customers. The US tax department is looking investigation if American residents of Indian origin with accounts with HSBC India were involved in evading US taxes.

Hyderabad, May 8 : State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) Wednesday said it is not considering merger with the State Bank of India (SBI) and that it will continue as an independent bank.

SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri had said on Monday that the issue of consolidation of SBI's associate banks may be taken up for consideration after July.

SBH managing director M. Bhagavantha Rao told reporters here that it was not thinking of merger for now.