BANKING SECTOR NEWS

PNB to raises Rs. 500 crore via private placement; Stock gains
Posted March 1st, 2008
Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country’s third largest lender, has announced that the bank will be raising Rs500 crores (With option to retain over subscription) as PNB Upper Tier II Bonds Issue Series III through private placement.
The proposed date of opening of the issue will be 29.02.2008 and proposed date of closing will 03.03.2008.
Recently, bank has reduced its benchmark prime-lending rate (BPLR) from existing level of 13% p.a. to 12.50% p.a. The revised rates will come into effect from March 1.

Dena slashes PLR rates by 0.25 percent; Stock register 5% gains
Posted March 1st, 2008
Public sector lender, Dena Bank, has reduced its benchmark prime-lending rate (BPLR) by 0.25 per cent. The new rate will be 13 per cent, against the earlier 13.25 per cent.
The revised rate will come into effect from March 3. The move is in line with the rate cuts announced by leading public sector banks such as the SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank.
Recently, Mumbai-based, Dena Bank announced that it will auction Rs 188.4 crore of its non-performing assets (NPAs) to bring down gross NPAs below 2.5 per cent by March 2008.

HDFC Bank-CBoP Merger Echoes In Insurance Sector
Posted February 26th, 2008
HDFC Bank-Centurion merger will be a big blow to Aviva Life Insurance.
Under bancassurance pact, Aviva products will be sold by CBoP, while HDFC Bank sells insurance for its division, HDFC Standard Life.
As per existing insurance laws, a bank can’t sell products for more than one insurance company.
CBoP is one of the largest institutional distributors for Aviva, HDFC Bank, on the other hand, is one of the largest insurance distributors for HDFC Standard Life.

PNB Slashes PLR Rates By 50 Bps
Posted February 25th, 2008
Punjab National Bank (PNB) has announced that the bank has reduced the benchmark prime lending rate (PLR) by 50 basis points (bps) from the existing level of 13% per annum to 12.50% per annum effective March 1, 2008.
The bank has also reduced its interest rates by 50 basis points on loan, which are not linked to BPLR such as housing loans above Rs 20 lakh where interest rate will be in the range of 9.5% to 10.5% (against the existing rates ranging from 10%-11%).

HDFC Bank Gets Ready To Fight Foreign Contenders
Posted February 25th, 2008
After merging the Centurion Bank of Punjab to the HDFC bank, it is now looking to fight against the foreign contenders.
HDFC Bank has joined rivals such as ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda in expanding overseas to track local companies including Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries and Indian Hotels, which are acquiring foreign competitors.
Size does matter in any business especially in the Indian market. The Indian market where every business is now getting highly penetrated caused them to churn. And in this year India will allow foreign banks to take over local ones.