- SBI TO JOIN SWIFT’S GLOBAL PAYMENT SYSTEM: State Bank of India (SBI) will soon join the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT). Eleven Indian Banks have already subscribed to SWIFT’s new payment interface- Global Payment Interface (GPI) which is set to make cross-border transactions much more secure and transparent. The GPI enabled banks can also opt for an additional feature called Payment Control Service (PCS) where if any irregularities are found in the payment transaction such as higher than usual fund size or uncommon transaction timeframe, the channel can block the transaction and notify the bank.
- PRIVATE BANKS CONTINUE TO TAKE AWAY PSB MARKET SHARE: As per a report by Kotak Institutional Equities based on RBI data, private banks have continued to wrest away both deposit and credit market share from Public Sector Banks. Private Sector Banks have increased their Deposit market share by 24% year-on year. Their growth rate is more in urban areas as compared to semi urban and rural areas. In credit also they have continued to grow at a rate of 40% in rural areas and 20% in urban areas year-on-year.
- NBFCs WITH Rs 1,000 CRORE ASSETS WANT PUBLIC DEPOSIT ACCESS: Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) with assets exceeding Rs. 1,000 crore want the RBI to allow them to accept deposits from the public. For large NBFCs the industry wants a separate classification. The sector leaders want “Systemically Large” NBFCs to be treated differently than the other 10,000 NBFCs that are there in the sector.
- RBI FINES 19 BANKS FOR NON-COMPIANCE ON SWIFT SYSTEM USE: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has fined as many as 19 banks, including ICICI Bank and State Bank of India for failing to comply with its guidelines on the use of global payments network SWIFT. Most notable among those guidelines was requirement for banks to connect the SWIFT interbank messaging system with their core banking software. The penalties totalled to more than Rs. 40 crore and ranged from Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore for each bank. The series of fines imposed is a stern warning from RBI to banks to strengthen their internal systems and minimise frauds after the PNB fraud case last year.
- PAN NUMBER TO BE LINKED TO BANK ACCOUNT FOR GETTING INCOME TAX REFUNDS: From March 1, 2019 the Income Tax Department has started issuing refunds via e-mode in to the bank accounts of the tax payers. For this, linking PAN number to the bank account is mandatory to get the tax refund directly to the bank account.
- BANKS SEEK EXTENSION FOR THE ROLL-OUT OF INDIAN ACCOUNTING STANDARDS: Banks are seeking extension for the roll-out of the Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS) which will come in to effect from April 1st Banks are citing higher capital for bad-loans provisioning, pending legislative amendments and delay in finalising rules as some of the reasons for deferring the implementation of IndAS. Banks are in great pressure to improve their financials but implementation of IndAS will further add to banks’ compliance burden.
- BANKS RECOVER ALMOST HALF OF 1.43 LAKH DEFAULTING ADVANCES THROUGH IBC: Banks have so far recovered almost half of 1.44 lakh crore defaulting advances stuck in 82 cases that have been resolved in the past two years through Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC). IBC has become increasingly effective in recovering bad loans as it has injected an element of fear in to the minds of defaulting promoters. IBC is yielding definite results but there is still vast scope for further evolving and improvement.
- GOVERNMENT TO ROLL OUT Rs.20 COIN FOR THE FIRST TIME: The Finance Ministry has announced in a gazette notification about the roll-out of Rs. 20 coin for the first time in the country. The new Rs 20 coin will be shaped like a “dodecagon” (12 edged polygon) just to differentiate it from the Rs 10 coin which is in circulation.
This post first appeared on IMPACT OF DEMONITIZATION OF CURRENCY IN INDIA IN 2016, please read the originial post: here
