08.04.2024 : Today's Banking / Financial News

SBI expects to surpass ₹1-lakh crore operating profitin FY25 : State Bank of India has set its sights on surpassing the operating profit milestone of ₹1-lakh crore in FY25 and has drawn up financial targets accordingly.  The country’s largest bank logged an operating profit of ₹65,050 crore in the nine months (April-December) of FY24, up 10.08 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). In FY23, it had posted an operating profit of ₹83,713 crore. “In FY23, we became the most profitable financial services company in Indian corporate history and clocked highest net profit ever exceeding ₹50,000 crore in a fiscal year... In the period ahead, the bank aspires to scale even greater heights,” says Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI. - Business Line.*

SBI plans incognito visits exercise to its branches to monitor customer services : State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to engage the services of an external agency to carry out incognito visits to its branches to monitor customer services from the current financial year. India’s largest bank intends the incognito visits to the branches to be undertaken on an annual basis. The bank had 22,405 domestic branches as of March-end 2023. “The importance of customer-centricity in banking operations and building long-term relationships cannot be overstated. We need to understand the pulse of customers, keep on evolving with time, enhance our offerings and make customer experience of our bank as benchmark in the industry,” said Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara. The RBI officers have been carrying out incognito visits to bank branches to make an independent assessment of the level of customer service provided by banks. SBI is also planning to build KaaS (KYC as a Service) for better management of KYC (know your customer) profiling of the customers. - moneycontrol.*

RBI may issue guidance on SFB upgradation to universal banks bl-premium-article-image : In a move that may elevate small finance banks to universal banks, the Reserve Bank of India is expected to issue guidelines or circular which may capture the requirements that SFBs should have to convert into universal bank. An application process for upgradation to universal bank is also likely to form part of this circular. At present, SFBs can seek to become universal banks upon five years of operations as small finance bank. The current licensing norms for SFBs do not have any additional requirements or conditions to be met to convert to universal bank. - Business Line.*

RBI economic surveys point to optimistic growth outlook : Reserve Bank of India’s forward looking surveys indicate improving macro economic sentiments across various segments. Services sector firms assessed further improvement in overall business situation, job landscape and their turnover during the fourth quarter of 2023-24. While enterprises gauged higher cost pressures stemming from input costs, pressures from salary outgo and cost of finance, however, moderated during the quarter. Respondents were more upbeat on the overall business situation and their turnover, as well as both full-time and part-time employment conditions during April-June 2024. Service sector enterprises remain highly positive on availability of finance and expect it to improve further in the ensuing quarter. - Business Line.*

PNB reports 11.5 pc loan growth in Q4, BoB's up 12.4 pc : State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday said it has posted a credit growth of 11.5 per cent at Rs 9.85 lakh crore for the March quarter. Total advances were Rs 8.84 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2023, PNB said in a regulatory filing.  The lender reported a 7 per cent increase in total deposits to Rs 13.70 lakh crore as against Rs 12.81 lakh crore at the end of the fourth quarter of the previous financial year. Total business of the bank rose 8.8 per cent to Rs 23.56 lakh crore as compared to Rs 21.65 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2023. - economic times.

Vinod Francis appointed as Chief Financial Officer of South Indian Bankn : The South Indian Bank has appointed Vinod Francis as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the Bank said on Sunday. The Board of Directors, which met on April 5, has approved the appointment of Francis, a seasoned professional, as the CFO and the Key Managerial Personnel, it said. "Francis, a seasoned professional with over 18 years of experience within the Bank, has held various key roles across departments such as credit underwriting and corporate finance. Notably, he has served as Deputy CFO since June 2021 and has demonstrated his leadership capabilities consistently," the bank said in a release. - economic times.

Mcap of 4 of top 10 companies hit Rs 1.71 trillion; HDFC Bank, LIC lead gainers : Four of the top 10 valued firms added Rs 1,71,309.28 crore to their market valuation last week with HDFC Bank and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) emerging as the biggest gainers in line with an overall positive trend in equities.  On the other hand, six companies from the top 10 pack took a Rs 78,127.48 crore hit to their market valuation with index major Reliance Industries accounting for the majority of the losses. Last week, the BSE benchmark climbed 596.87 or 0.81 per cent. It hit an all-time high of 74,501.73 on April 4.  While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and LIC were the gainers from the top 10 pack, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ITC and Hindustan Unilever faced losses in their valuation. - economic times.

FPIs turn cautious, withdraw Rs 325 cr from Indian equities so far in April : FPIs have turned cautious as they pulled out Rs 325 crore from Indian equities in the first week of this month owing to relatively high valuations and the upcoming general elections.  The net outflow came after a staggering investment of Rs 35,000 crore in March and Rs 1,539 crore in February, data with the depositories showed. Going ahead, Geojit Financial Services Chief Investment Strategist VK Vijayakumar said the US 10-year yield has spiked to 4.4 per cent, which will impact FPI (foreign portfolio investor) investment flows into India in the near term.  However, FPI selling will be limited despite the high US bond yields since the Indian stock market is bullish and has been setting new records consistently, he added.- economic times.

SIDBI partners fintech platform KarmaLife for micro loans to gig workers : Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has entered into an agreement with a fintech Onion Life Private Limited to use the latter’s technology platform KarmaLife for a pilot to provide micro loans to gig workers. This is expected to support the gig workers’ financial inclusion to formal institutional credit. KarmaLife will help gig workers access micro loans through a mobile app and eliminates the hassle of extensive paperwork or physical documentation. This streamlined process will make it easier for gig workers to manage the liquidity needs of their enterprise activities. “Our partnership with Onion Life will help us understand and assist the new and emerging enterprise class of gig workers. The pilot will also help in developing an institutional mechanism for assessing the credit risk of this segment,” S Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI, said. - Business Line.