Friday, May 27, 2011

Governments to amend KYC norms

The Central Government is keen to introduce common Know your Customer (KYC) norms to simplify the proceedings and to make them more effective and relevant. KYC Policy is mandatory to be followed in the matters related Finance like opening a bank account, a trading/demat account, mutual fund investments and insurance policies.

KYC norms hold much significance as they are very effective to keep a check on money laundering cases finds being used to finance terrorist activities.

The Secretary to Department of Economic Affairs, Mr. R Gopalan said “We will see if a few changes can be made here and there to have a consistent KYC for all.”

Monday, May 16, 2011

45,000 vacancies to be filled in banking sector for year 2011-12

The growth in the banking sector has crested a lot of job opportunities. The banks are suffering form a lack of human resources as the banking sector on a roll and all the banks are expanding at a very fast pace. To meet their requirements public sector banks are planning to hire around 45,000 personnel during year 2011-12.

The Director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), Mr. M Balachandran said "Approximately 45,000 officers and staff would be recruited by (nationalised) banks this year."

Apart form the expansion the other reason that has contributed to the human resource crunch in the banking sector is the fact that a lot of the banking personnel are on the verge of retirement and that is why the banks is hiring in bulk.

The other major factor is that in order to maximize their profits banks are foraying into activities like insurance policies and mutual fund schemes; it has also created a job opportunities in the banking space.

For the recruitment, IBPS will start conducting a common entrance test from July; the banks will then call the candidates for an interview in the basis of their scores they have secured in the common test.

Out of 26 public sector banks, the exam will be valid for only 19 banks. SBI and its associate banks will continue to conduct their separate exam to recruit employees.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Banking sector symbolizing national growth

Banking sector in the country is on a roll, there are a lot of factors responsible for it. The introduction of Information Technology has only acted a as catalyst to the situation. With no doubt one can say that India has one of the most secure banking systems in the world that even withstood the Global Recession but even then a huge portion of population is still not under the banking system.

To provide banking facilities to the masses the Government launched Financial Inclusion Plan that aims to equip very village with a population above 2000 before March 2012. Government has adopted several measures to speed up the process like extensive use of IT services and public private collaboration.

Apart from expanding the network of banking in the country the services that the banks provides to its users have also been upgraded and also introduction of new services by the lenders like internet banking, mobile banking , mobile wallet and several other services have made banking rather a enjoyable experience ; it is now no more arcane.

There is vast customer base in the country that is still untapped; banks have huge scope for further growth that is why even foreign banks are showing interest to set their business in the country. Banking sector has gone competitive over past few years and that has triggered the banks to improve the services provided to the customer, as customer satisfaction is a mandate for their growth.

The introduction of Aadhar number will further increase the ambit of banking as then it would be easier for the people from the lower section of society to get a bank account and it will also help to ensure proper utilization of the funds sanctioned for the development of the weaker section of the society as then the funds will be directly transferred to their bank accounts and hence will also check the corruption involved.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Banking services likely to go expensive

On May 3, along with the announcement of hike in the policy rates by 50 basis points, The Reserve Bank of India also hiked the interest rate on the saving accounts that were unchanged since 1993 at 3.5 percent per annum to 4 percent.

The increase in the interest rate will put an extra burden on the banks and that is why to stabilize the burden banks are likely to increase the transaction charges fro the services they offer and cal also start charging on the service that were free.

The Managing Director of HDFC Bank Mr. Aditya Puri said "The transaction charges will go up for the consumers if the rates on savings bank accounts keep on going up... The banks also have to survive."

Increase of minimum balance in the account, increase in the cheque issue charges are a few possible improvements that the banks are considering post hike in the saving bank account interest rates.