ICICI, HDFC Bank follow SBI; revise FD rates by up to 0.5 pc

Mumbai, September 12: Private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank on Wednesday reduced interest rates on fixed deposits by atleast 50 basis point. The reduction in deposit rates comes at a time when the economy is slowing down and credit pick up is slack. One basis point is equal to one hundredth of a percentage. Last week, State Bank of India had reduced interest rate on deposits by as much as 100 basis points across maturities to maintain profitability after lowering lending rates.

 

ICICI Bank has cut rates across maturities ranging from 91 days to less than five years. It now offers a maximum 8.75 per cent interest on retail term deposits compared to 9.25 per cent earlier. In the shorter tenure ranging between seven days to 45 days, however, the bank has increased rate by 50-75 basis points. A reduction in statutory reserve ratio, the amount of funds to be held in government bonds, by a percentage point is also help the banks lend Rs 15,000 crore more to corporate or retail customers. Deposits grew 14.1% year on year against RBI's projection of 16%.

 

Pratip Chaudari, chairman State Bank of India had said, “As of now, we are surplus in deposit for SBI. The challenge is more on pushing credit.” Also, the cut in SLR is providing some comfort. This is helping banks in meeting the credit demand, which is climbing marginally. Recent RBI data shows that credit has grown 16.7% year on year.

 

‘We could see the private players now reduce lending rates to get competitive as many public sector banks like State Bank of India and Andhra Bank have cut rates on select retail products,’ said a banking analyst with a domestic brokerage. ICICI Bank is also doing this to maintain a healthy margin of over 3%, he added.

Andhra Bank Probationary officers and Specialist Officers Recruitment

Andhra Bank invite applications from eligible Candidates forProbationary Officers (PO) & Specialist Officers . Candidates those who have qualified in IBPS CWE PO & Specialist Officers Exam 2012 with Valid IBPS Score card are eligible and need to Apply Online.

Vacancy Details :
Probationary Officers – 400
IT Officers – 40
Rajbasha Officers – 7
HR Officers – 8
Law Officers – 15

Educational Qualifications : Graduate in any Discipline from recognized university.

IBPS Cut Off Marks : Candidates need to get minimum of 24 Marks in each test for General Categories (21 Marks for Reserved Categories)

Application Fee of Rs. 100/- (Rs.20/- for Reserved Categories) to be paid by candidates through the challan downloaded from bank website.

Selection Procedure is based on the Group Discussion or/ Interview. Only Short Listed Candidates will be called for GD/Interview based on the Score in IBPS.

How to Apply:
Candidates should apply Online http://www.andhrabank.in on or before 15-09-2012.

For further details about the recruitment refer Full Advertisement Notification carefully before applying.


Probationary Officers (PO) Online Application

Specialist Officers Online Application

Public Sector Banks, including SBI set out on a talent drive

 "Public sector banks in the country face a tremendous 
challenge with respect to talent and leadership skill availability.
Estimates put the manpower shortfall at four to five lakh."

 

Bangalore & Kolkata, August 30: Public sector banks (PSBs) including Punjab National Bank, IDBI, State Bank of India and Bank of India are altering their talent strategies to focus on performance and employee engagement. The banks are also lining up incentives such as paid holidays abroad, leadership and training programmes at top b-schools.

 

"Public sector banks in the country face a tremendous challenge with respect to talent and leadership skill availability. Estimates put the manpower shortfall at four to five lakh," said Padmaja Alaganandan, executive director - consulting at PwC Consulting. Bridging the shortfall requires focus on fast-tracking high potential talent, she added.

 

The increased focus on performance has resulted in top business schools like IIMs witnessing an increase in executive management programmes taken up by banks to understand leadership, strategy, customer orientation and employee engagement. "Although the numbers of PSBs (around 2 per cent) are small when compared to other sectors, we have seen a more active interest in open programme participation this year," says Alex Manappurathu, chief programme officer (executive education), IIM-Bangalore.

 

At IIM-Bangalore, SBI, Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Karnataka Bank are among the public sector banks that have participated in open/custom programmes in the last three years, catering to the GMs and DGMs.

 

SBI has effected a complete overhaul of its talent assessment and engagement programmes. There is a new appraisal system. Senior managers will now have a performance review twice a year. The bank has tied up with Harvard Business School for online training programmes for its senior management. "We are now recruiting aggressively. These engagement methods will help us retain our employees and get more to join us," said a senior SBI HR executive who did not wish to be named.

 

Another bank that plans to provide global exposure to its employees is Punjab National Bank that has tied up with a business School in Singapore to train their middle and senior management on leadership skills. Last year, the bank started a grievance portal for employees called "Samadhaan" through which an employee can mail problems related to promotions, or managerial hiccups to the chairman directly.

 

"For junior and middle management, our salaries match the private banks and our attrition is not high," said Sushma Bali, GM-HR for PNB. Nonetheless, the bank is overhauling its employee engagement and performance management processes.

Banks offer festive bonanza to customers

Mumbai, August 18: With an eye on getting business in the festive season, banks have started offering discounts on interest rates and waiving processing fees to attract retail customers. Mumbai-based Union Bank of India on Saturday announced it has waived processing fees on home and auto loans from August 15 to January 26.

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, an associate of the State Bank of India, has found an innovative way to attract customers. While the bank is giving a discount of 25 basis points on retail loans across the board, customers who are applying for a car loan above Rs 10 lakh on line will get an additional rebate of 25 basis points, thus making the effective interest rate at 10.5 per cent which is the base rate of the bank, said Shiva Kumar, managing director, SBBJ. He added, the bank was offering 10.75 per cent for home loan customers, and those who apply on line will get a rebate of 10 basis points.

With credit growth slowing down in the current financial year amid high interest rate, banks are seeing the festive season as an opportunity to boost their credit portfolio. State Bank of India, for example, had said that it expected growth in retail credit to offset the impact of slowdown in corporate credit. The country's largest lender had earlier announced the cut in the interest rates for home and auto loans, immediately after Reserve Bank of India announced a one per cent SLR cut in July. SBI's home loan rates stand at 10.25 per cent for home loans up to Rs 30 lakh and 10.4 per cent for the loans above Rs 30 lakh. It also slashed its interest rate on car loans by 50 basis points to 10.75 per cent across the tenors.

Another public sector lender Andhra Bank is expected to take the decision about cutting interest rates on retail products. “We will be taking a decision soon” said, K K Misra, executive director of Andhra Bank.

Central Bank of India has already launched some products and is in the process of launching few more schemes both on asset and liability side. It has launched a special 555 days fixed deposit product in which the interest rate is higher by 50 basis points that the normal deposits of that tenor. It has also launched a recurring deposit account where the customer has the flexibility of putting the money according to his/her adjustment. Normally in the recurring accounts one has to put a fixed sum every month. “We will be waiving the processing fees on the retail loans, and where there is scope of reduction of interest rates we will cut the rates” said Ram Sangapure, general manager (retail), Central Bank of India.