Banking related general awareness for SBI IBPS PO and Clerical Exams 33/2014-15

v  SBI promotes 10 CGMs to Deputy MDs:

State Bank of India has promoted 10 Chief General Managers to the position of Deputy Managing Director (DMD).

v  Court stays curbs on foreign travel by bank officers:

The Madras High Court has ordered an interim stay on a recent circular that took away leave travel concession facility to bank officers for journeys abroad.

v  Forex reserves up $500 million:

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $499.8 million to $309.91 billion in the week ended April 25.While the country’s foreign currency assets rose by $493.2 million to $282.02 billion, gold reserves remained unchanged at $21.56 billion.

v  Call drops, bond yields almost flat :

Amid high liquidity, the overnight call money rate (the rate at which banks borrow money from each other to overcome short-term liquidity mismatches) ended sharply weaker at 7.50 per cent from the previous close of 9 per cent.

v  Non-food credit up 14%:

Robust demand for credit from agriculture, services, homes and consumer durables segments helped non-food credit of the banking system grow 14.3 per cent  in FY2014 against 13.5 per cent in the previous financial year.

v  Are office meetings a waste of time?

In the Harvard Business Review, three consultants from Bain report the results of an exercise in which they analysed the outlook schedules of the employees of an unnamed large company and concluded that one weekly executive meeting ate up a dizzying 3,00,000 hours a year. Which is impressive, given that each of us only has about 8,700 hours a year to begin with, Including sleep.

v  Slowdown claims gold buying on Akshaya Tritiya:

Gold demand on Akshaya Tritiya, a ritualised date for buying the metal in India, was subdued on Friday, as economic uncertainty forced people to put off purchases. gold import estimates are low, too. In 2013, Akshaya Tritiya fell on May 13 and gold imports from April till mid- May were around 200 tonnes. Gold imports for April 2014 are estimated at 30 tonnes.

v  Wilful bank loan default crosses Rs.70,000 cr:

The wilful bank loan default by 400 customers to various public sector banks have crossed the Rs.70,000-crore mark.

v  Bandhan plans to open 600 branches:

Microfinance outfit Bandhan Financial Services Ltd., which got a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India on April 9, is planning to open around 600 branches, its Chairman and Managing Director Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said. “About 80 per cent of our network is in rural areas,” he said. An estimated 600 branches may have to be opened to cater to Bandhan’s 55 lakh clients — all women.

v  Indian Bank FCNR Rates:

Indian Bank has revised interest rates on FCNR (B) term deposit from May 1, 2014. For FCNR (B) deposits, in US dollar, the revised interest rate has been fixed at 2.55 per cent for deposits of one  year and above but less than two years (2.56 % existing); at 2.56 % for deposits of 2<3 years (2.59%); at 4.02 per cent for deposits of 3<4 years (4.05%); at 4.45 per cent for deposits of 4<5 years (4.48%) and at 4.81 per cent for deposit of five years only (4.85% existing).