[sbinews] Merger, REverse Merger and Demerger
- From: sbistcbangalore@xxxxxxxx
- To: sbinews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:01:50 +0500
Current account
[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2003 12:50:01 AM ]
Loan wolf
UCO Bank made news when its initial public offering was oversubscribed 17.5
times a couple of months ago. The unexpected enthusiasm for a bank which was in
dire straits just a few years ago was attributed to the general fervour in
respect of bank stocks and also the fact that the bank had got over its bad
loan problems.
That may have been only part of the reason. The central bank is looking into
complaints that the bank had provided loans to applicants, thereby inflating
investor demand. Not that investors needed any encouragement. The stock
continues to trade at nearly double the issue price more than a month after
listing.
Loose change
Along with the much-discussed problems of plenty in foreign exchange inflows,
there is another area where RBI is facing an embarrassment of riches. Coins,
which were minted and even imported by the RBI two years ago to meet the
shortages then, are now coming back in tonnes.
With inflation making 25 paise coins worthless, the central bank is now looking
for technology solutions to handle the reverse flow of coins. According to
deputy governor Vepa Kamesam, the central bank is planning to get banks to
install coin sorting machines, where the general public can pour their coins
into a hopper and get currency notes from an ATM-like vending machine.
Road rules
IDBI Bank surprised banking circles by raising deposit rates at a time when
most banks are finding it difficult to service their existing deposit base.
This sudden hunger for bank deposits has set tongues wagging in banking
circles. Some are even drawing parallels with ICICI Bank’s aggressive deposit
mobilisation drive in the run up to the reverse merger of ICICI Bank with
ICICI. The speculation is that the deposits are being built up to meet expanded
reserve requirements after a reverse merger.
Home a-loan
Along with IDBI Bank, Union Bank of India too surprised bankers by announcing a
hike in home loan rates, even as cut-throat competition prevails in that
segment. More surprising was the reason for the hike: increasing bad loans. If
high rates were indeed a deterrent to defaulters, then the current dead-weight
of non-performing assets should never have existed since most of the loans were
granted at rates of around 19-20%. Meanwhile, the person who blew the whistle
on rising delinquencies on home loans, BD Narang, chairman, Oriental Bank of
Commerce, is yet to revise home loan rates.
Scale up
Whether it is ATMs, home loans or auto loans there is one word that describes
ICICI Bank’s strategy: scale. But on the issue of corporate banking there had
been some debate on whether marketshare is more important than profitability.
The bank’s head of corporate banking Nachiket Mor had so far gone for
profitability. But this approach, we understand, has changed with chief
executive KV Kamath insisting that the bank should concentrate on marketshare.
Family feuds
Is Bank of Punjab bringing in a strategic partner or not? The bank has
indicated that it was open to investors but does not appear to have made any
progress on that front. One possible reason for this we hear is that there are
differences in the promoter family on the issue. Incorporated on May 27, 1994 ,
Bank of Punjab (BOPL) was promoted by Gian Prakash, GS Mann and Inderjit Singh.
This is one of the few individual promoted banks - the only other being Global
Trust Bank.
Squat attack
Popular UK newspaper The Economist has to contend with a cybersquatter of no
mean proportions. Type out the domain name theeconomist.com on your web browser
and you are transported to a home page with a picture of Alan Greenspan,
proclaiming the chairman of the Federal Reserve to be the economist of the
year. Click on the links further and you are taken to the official website of
the US Federal Reserve.
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