Public sector lender Punjab National Bank has announced a cut in car loans by 50 basis points with effect from March 1, 2009.

With the latest revision, the car loan would come down to 10.5-11 per cent from the existing 11-11.5 per cent.

It should be noted that earlier this month, the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) had cut interest rates on home loans to 8 per cent and on car loans to 10 per cent for a period of one year

The new rates are applicable to all customers availing loans between February 23 and May 31, 2009, a bank official quoted in a statement.

LIC Housing Finance (LICHFL) is planning to launch its new financial arm in the current quarter. The decision is aimed to strengthen its distribution network across the country. The company would start its new financial arm, headquartered at Bombay and expand its network across country at later stage.

The Director and Chief Executive of LICHFL, R R Nair said, "We are launching our financial services subsidiary called LIC Housing Finance Financial Services which will help us improve our disbursement of loans and other financial products, during the quarter."

Fidelity International has announced the launch of its Fidelity Wealth Builder Fund, an open ended fund of funds scheme offering asset allocation options with three Plans, in the Indian market.

The investment objective of the fund is to generate reasonable returns based on the Plan selected with minimum and maximum asset allocation between debt and equity.

The company stated in a press release that the fund manager will use a two-tier investment approach i. e. asset allocation and fund selection to invest in Fidelity's funds.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Capital, a major financial services provider, has finally secured an approval from the National Housing Bank (NHB) for setting up a housing finance company.

It may be noted that, Reliance Capital is already into the mortgage business through its wholly-owned consumer finance arm Reliance Consumer Finance.

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), one of the leading PSU banks in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. to publicize the loan scheme offered by Oriental Bank of Commerce.

As per MOU, the exclusive car dealers of Maruti Suzuki will publicize the loan scheme among the prospective car buyers and link them to the Bank for credit support for hassle-free process.

Swiss banking major Credit Suisse has revealed that it has invested Rs 794 crore in its non-banking finance company (NBFC) named Credit Suisse Finance India.

According to sources, the company has pumped the said amount in order to fund the operations of its Indian non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India. With the fresh funds, the total capital of Credit Suisse Finance (India) now stands at Rs 827 crore.