Yangon [Myanmar]/Tokyo [Japan], Dec.2 : Co-Operative Bank (CB Bank), a major commercial bank in Myanmar, Myanmar Payment Union Public Co. Ltd (MPU), and JCB International Co. Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., have announced that CB Bank will start issuing JCB debit cards in December 2016.

The CB MPU-JCB Co-Brand Card combines the MPU brand and JCB brand. Card members can use MPU's nation-wide merchant network in Myanmar and JCB's international merchant network with over 31 million locations globally.

New Delhi [India], Nov 23 : Holding RBI Governor Urjit Patel responsible for ineffective handling of the crisis post the demonetisation drive, All India Bank Employees Association vice-president Vishwas Utagi on Wednesday said that bank unions are adamant on their demand for the former's resignations as well as lockdown of the apex bank.

Questioning the failure of the RBI as the regulatory system, Utagi said that Patel, who hasn't uttered a word till now, should resign with immediate effect.

"Since two weeks, the bank employees are working from eight in the morning till midnight including weekends. Still, there are truckloads of work to do. There has been absolutely no cooperation from the RBI's side," Utagi told ANI.

Thrissur (Kerala)[India], Nov.19 : The Reserve Bank of India has granted approval for the appointment of C.VR. Rajendran as Managing Director and CEO of the Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd. for a period of three years from the date of his taking charge.

Rajendran is currently holding the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Mutual Funds in India. Prior to this he has held other key positions like Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank and Executive Director at Bank of Maharashtra.

He is a seasoned banker with rich grass root level Indian banking experience spanning more than three and a half decades.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Nov. 14 : Acknowledging the government for its introduction of the demonetization of currency in the economy, Former RBI governor C. Rangarajan on Monday said the Government's move to demonetize is a standard direction to extinguish reduction in circulation of black money.

Speaking to ANI, Rangarajan said, "This is a common step taken whenever an effort is made to curtail the circulation of black money or unaccounted income."

"In India, it is not the first time that it has been done, such steps have been taken in the past also. This time apparently there are three targets; one is to attack those who hold black money as a citizen."

New Delhi [India], Nov. 14 : Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has announced that a task force is being set up under the chairmanship of deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for recalibration of ATMs to expedite the process of cash transactions.

"The ATMs which are being recalibrated to dispense 500 rupee notes and 2,000 rupee notes i.e. the new series of 500 rupee notes and the 2,000 rupee notes.to expedite this process as fast as possible a task force is being set up under the chairmanship of deputy governor of the Reserve Bank. It will have representatives of banks as its members," Das told ANI.

New Delhi [India], Nov 10 : Backing the government's decision to demonetize Rs. 500 and 1,000 currency notes, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said that there was a need to revive the currency as the value of rupee has depreciated after 2001, adding notes of Rs. 1,000 will be introduced in due course.

Throwing light on the other logical reasons behind the government deciding to infuse the new currency, Das said: "Firstly, the logistical reason behind the very decision was to make it convenient for the citizens to exchange or deposit the old notes and get the value out of the new notes."

Mumbai [India], Nov.10 : The Reserve Bank has appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director following G Mahalingam's decision to take voluntary retirement.

In a statement, the RBI said that as Executive Director, Rao will look after Department of Statistics and Information Management, Financial markets Operations Department and International Department.

Prior to taking over as the Executive Director, he was the Chief General Manager, Financial Markets Operations Department. He has previously held charge of the Risk Monitoring Department. He has also worked as the Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], Nov 8 : London Stock Exchange Group's global index and data provider FTSE Russell today announced that FTSE Russell and State Bank of India (SBI) are working closely to create the FTSE TMX SBI India Index series.

The announcement follows the signing of a letter of intent between the two parties last year. The index series will give market participants from India, the UK and internationally the tools they need to analyze India's bond market.

The commitment to create this innovative index series demonstrates significant progress in the development of India's bond market, a priority of the India UK Financial Partnership ( UKFP), launched by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Indian Finance Minister in July 2014.

New Delhi [India], Nov 8 : State-owned banking and financial services company Bank of Baroda today announced the appointment of Ratnesh Kumar as the new Managing Director and CEO of BOB Capital Markets Ltd., its 100 percent owned investment banking subsidiary.

Ratnesh Kumar, who started his career in the Indian capital markets and financial services sector in 1993 holds a Masters degree in Management from FMS, University of Delhi and M.Sc. (Hons) in Physics and B.E. (Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS, Pilani.

He has also served as the Managing Director, Head- Cash Equities India and CEO of Standard Chartered Securities India wherein the main business segments included institutional brokerage, equity capital markets, equity research and retail broking.

New Delhi [India], Oct 4 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced a rate of by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, as a newly set up panel felt that inflation levels were low enough to reduce loan rates.

The decision of the monetary policy committee (MPC), headed by new RBI governor Urjit Patel, will likely cheer business leaders and households as cheaper loans will aid investment and spending.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee, which voted 6-0 in favour of a cut, noted that an improvement in sowing along with supply management measures will improve the food inflation outlook.

A new technology with the name EMV is said make it tougher for thieves to steal data. The EMV chip will be embedded in credit cards. It is said that with the adoption of the EMV technology, a decline will come in credit card fraud rates. But as per a new study by NerdWallet, there are more chances of opposite to take place as criminals will look out for other ways to commit card fraud.

EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) chip is the small silver or gold chip set in front of the card. There is a difference between EMV chip card and a standard card. In the magnetic stripe cards, static payment data can be transferred from one card to another. But such is not the case with the EMV chip card.

State officials are scrutinizing Bank of New York Mellon’s handling of huge software glitch that occurred in August, in order to determine its effect on investors. According to Secretary of State William F. Galvin, last month, wrong valuations were provided by BNY Mellon for exchange traded funds and mutual funds and some of the valuations deviated over 1%.

Galvin said that the problem may have led to inability of investors to trade funds at right prices. The glitch has affected a number of investment companies together with billions of dollars of assets and hundreds of funds.

Goldman Sachs, the US based investment firm, is broadening its efforts to offer banking services to people with a wider array of incomes than it has traditionally served. On Thursday, the firm announced about its plan to acquisition of General Electric Capital Bank's online deposit platform.

The American multinational investment banking firm said in a statement that the acquisition will result in shift of $8 billion from GE Capital Bank to Goldman in online deposit accounts and $8 billion in brokered certificates of deposits.

“This transaction achieves greater funding diversification and strengthens the liquidity profile of GS Bank by providing an additional deposit gathering channel”, said Goldman treasurer Liz Beshel Robinson.

According to reports, from 10 to 12 August, Japanese telecom group SoftBank purchased 22.87 million shares of Sprint at an average price of USD 3.80. The shares are 0.58% of outstanding shares of Sprint common stock and they lifted SoftBank’s holding to 3.17 billion shares.

As per the reports, the acquisition was made through US subsidiary Galaxy Investment which is entirely owned by SoftBank. It wants to keep on purchasing Sprint shares, however will not increase its stake to 85% or more.

As per the company, it has been using significant resources in order to optimize Sprint's network strategy and is sustaining the growth of innovative lease financing structures.

Bank of America, which is trying to board on to banking after battling through several legal and mortgage troubles, on Wednesday said that its second-quarter profit more than doubled from previous year's profit.

Profit posted by the Bank of America even surpassed analysts' expectations. But analysts cautioned that although the good results reflect progress in cutting expenses, drop was also seen in litigation costs and other one-time items, like adjustments to the value of certain debt holdings, thanks to a rise in interest rates in the quarter.

According to reports, British lender Barclays' shares have been affected by heavy fines because of past misconduct in addition to a strategic drift. Now, the bank has expelled its Chief Executive Antony Jenkins after three years of his joining as executive.

The bank said that it believes that the new appointment would help speed up change in strategies at the bank and enhance shareholder returns.

According to analysts at brokerage Shore Capital, "This announcement was not something that we have expected, but given John McFarlane's history as a 'hands-on' chairman, it is perhaps not a big surprise". They said in a note that the decision will only prove good if it acts as a way for an increased improvement in financial performance of Barclays.

Federal banking regulators said in a statement that 12 largest banks of the United States have resubmitted their plans for navigating a bankruptcy that would not require a taxpayer bailout.

This is the third time that banks were forced to resubmit their plans, which clearly details their strategy for a rapid and orderly bankruptcy as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said Monday that they will start review of their new plans as soon as possible.

The Export-Import Bank charter expires on Tuesday for the first time since it was created to help United States businesses during depression to export their products.

The bank on which several local companies were dependant has to face the situation as congress failed to renew the bank's charter because of opposition from Republicans who say it amounts to corporate welfare.

The federal Export-Import Bank's principal role is to guarantee commercial bank loans made to foreign businesses to buy US products. The bank also makes direct loans and provides export credit insurance to protect against losses to companies from non-repayment of loans.

The Bank of International Settlements has stated that central banks have used almost all of their tactics to tackle the last crises. Therefore, if the next global financial crisis comes then they will not be able to tackle it.

Bank of International Settlements has assessed the conditions in its annual report. Central banks have repeatedly slashed interest rates in order to save their economies.

Claudio Borio, head of the organization’s monetary and economic department, said, “Persistent exceptionally low rates reflect the central banks’ and market participants’ response to the unusually weak post-crisis recovery as they fumble in the dark in search of new certainties”.

Federal regulators have imposed restrictions on the mortgage businesses of six banks. The restrictions were announced on Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) against JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, US Bank, HSBC, Santander and EverBank.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) imposed restrictions on the mortgage-servicing operations of six banks who failed to fully comply with enforcement orders related to past home foreclosure abuses.

The penalties on the six banks involve restrictions on mortgage-servicing operations, including limits on the banks' ability to acquire residential mortgage-servicing rights or outsource their existing mortgage-servicing rights.