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State Bank of India has opened its branch in Jeddah. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) deputy governor for Technical Affairs Abdul Rahman Al-Khalaf, on behalf of the SAMA governor, declared the branch open. Indian ambassador to the Kingdom Hamid Ali Rao, who was guest of honor, said it was fitting that the opportunity and honor to become the first Indian bank to operate in Saudi Arabia has gone to SBI. The bank is also set to open a new branch at the Qatar Financial Centre, which it will use to explore trade and project finance opportunities in the country. The Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority has given approval to SBI to open a Category-I bank branch at the Qatar Financial Centre.
ICICI Bank is open to buying loan portfolios of European banks, managing director and CEO of the bank Chanda Kochhar said. She said the opportunity to pick up some good assets at good pricing clearly exists. So, that's what the bank is looking at all the time and exercising it whenever it sees the right opportunity. European banks are struggling to raise their capital cushions to become more resilient against future shocks, which they can do by increasing equity they hold or by shrinking their asset base.
SKS Microfinance announced that its founder and executive chairperson Vikram Akula has stepped down as chairperson and member of the board of the company. He will remain a consultant to the company until the end of March 2012 to assist with transition. P. H. Ravikumar, who has been on the board of firm for five years, takes over as the new non-executive chairperson-interim of the company with immediate effect. The firm, about a year ago, had sacked its CEO Suresh Gurumani after its IPO. M. R. Rao, MD and CEO of the firm, said Akula’s entrepreneurial vision has been the foundation for SKS
The government announced that the Reserve Bank has decided to reduce the validity of cheques and bank drafts from the present six months to three months beginning next fiscal. The RBI has advised that with effect from 1 April 2012, banks should not make payments against cheques, drafts, pay orders or banker's cheques if they are presented after the period of three months from date of issue. The government pointed out that some persons are taking undue advantage of the practice of banks of making payment of cheques or draft presented within a period of six months from the date of the instrument as these instruments are being circulated in the market like cash for six months
Editors Blog
When Thomas Friedman espoused that the world is flat, he probably never imagined that it could be flattened even further. But the year 2011 turned out to be just that: the world economy got hammered down and became flatter than ever before.
Every index fell, whether it pertained to stocks, commodities or trade. Every index pertaining to confidence of businesses, investors and consumer was down as well. The year 2011 was truly the year of the heavy duty hammer.
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The World is Flattened
By Aatish Mohite 2012-12-31 00:00:00 Category:Editors Blog
When Thomas Friedman espoused that the world is flat, he probably never imagined that it could be flattened even further. But the year 2011 turned out to be just that: the world economy got hammered down and became flatter than ever before.
Every index fell, whether it pertained to stocks, commodities or trade. Every index pertaining to confidence of businesses, investors and consumer was down as well. The year 2011 was truly the year of the heavy duty hammer.
