RBI asks banks to upload KYC with central registry from January 1

Mumbai, December 8 (PTI): Reserve Bank today directed all banks to upload the Know Your Customer (KYC) data pertaining to new individual accounts opened after January 1, with Central KYC Records Registry. Besides, it has been decided to allow One Time Pin (OTP) based e-KYC subject to certain restrictions.

"All Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) are required to invariably upload the KYC data pertaining to all new individual accounts opened on or after January 1, 2017, with Central KYC Records Registry," RBI said in a notification. All banks are, however, allowed time upto February 1 for uploading date in respect of accounts opened during January 2017, it said.

Regulated entities other than banks are to upload the KYC data pertaining to all new individual accounts opened on or after from April 1, with Central KYC Registry.

For OTP, it said, restriction would include specific consent from the customer for authentication and the aggregate balance of all the deposit accounts of the customer should not exceed Rs 1 lakh.

Besides, the aggregate of all credits in a financial year, in all the deposit taken together, should not exceed Rs two lakh.

"Banks should invariably upload the KYC data pertaining to all new individual accounts opened on or after January 1, 2017 with CERSAI in terms of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005," it said.

Under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Standard on Reporting (CRS), regulated entities should adhere to the provisions of Income Tax Rules and determine whether they are a reporting financial institution as defined in Income Tax Rule.

SBI launches mobile cash dispensers (Dec 7, 2015)

State Bank of India has announced special measures to ensure Chennai flood victims do not run out of money. Cash points are being operated at various localities. Some of these mobile money dispensers are on boats, auto-rickshaws and vans or are handheld devices operated by staffers.
SBI said its staff had volunteered to work late hours. Several branches in the affected areas were open on Sunday. SBI has also undertaken various relief measures such as distribution of food, water, blankets, Medicines and utensils in the affected districts by procuring from nearby unaffected districts.

SBI launches mobile cash dispensers (Dec 7, 2015)

State Bank of India has announced special measures to ensure Chennai flood victims do not run out of money. Cash points are being operated at various localities. Some of these mobile money dispensers are on boats, auto-rickshaws and vans or are handheld devices operated by staffers.
SBI said its staff had volunteered to work late hours. Several branches in the affected areas were open on Sunday. SBI has also undertaken various relief measures such as distribution of food, water, blankets, Medicines and utensils in the affected districts by procuring from nearby unaffected districts.

Download State Bank Buddy App

State Bank Buddy is the first Indian Mobile Wallet Application available in 13 Languages. It comes with several features like Send money to registered and new users, Ask money and Send reminders to settle dues, transfer additional cash into an account of your choice free of cost, Recharge and Pay Bills instantly, Book for movie tickets, flights and hotel and shop for your favorite merchandise.
How does State Bank Buddy work?
• First time users Sign Up by swiping to the right
• Load money into your wallet
• Transfer money with your contacts on phonebook
• Recharge your mobile/DTH and pay bills
• Shop online and book movies, flights and hotels
• Transfer money instantly to your bank account
• 24*7 customer support: Write to us at customercentre@sbi.co.in
All you need:
• A Non-Rooted Android phone
• Access to Internet data services either through wireless facility or 4G/3G/GPRS/Edge
• Smooth functioning of application subjected to the reception quality of your data plan

Download State Bank Buddy App

SBI Bank Holiday Calendar Android App

SBI Bank Holiday Calendar 2014 - 2015 - Now view Bank holidays based on State/UT/Circle options through this simple and intuitive app.

Click here to Download 

SBI features in 100 Most Trusted Brands 2015 (Nov 26, 2015)

India’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) has propelled its position from 39th to 35th in the Brand Equity’s Most Trusted Brands survey 2015. SBI is the only bank to be featured in the top 100 brands conducted by Nielsen survey. It is also adjudged India's most valued banking brand. The most trusted brand identifies brands that have the most special element:
The consumer’s trust.Conducted by Nielsen, Most Trusted Brand remains amongst the largest researches of its kind in India, with a design sample of 7,200 –distributed across socio economic classifications, age, income and geography. This research was carried out in 3 stages to make it more comprehensive. The study was carried out in 12 cities across India. The methodology was modified to improve quality of responses.

Reliance joins hands with SBI for Payments Bank Licence

Mumbai, February 2: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Monday said it has applied for a Payments Bank licence, where the company will be the promoter and State Bank of India will be its joint venture partner with an equity investment of up to 30%.

Reliance in its statement said that the partnership is in accordance with the guidelines for Payments Bank issued by RBI and subject to grant of licence by the central bank.

“The partnership brings together the combined strengths of two of India’s Fortune-500 corporations committed to making a transformative impact on India’s financial inclusion landscape,” the Reliance statement said.

The Payments Bank will leverage SBI’s nationwide distribution network and risk management capabilities along with the substantial investments made by Reliance Industries in its retail and telecom businesses.

The joint venture will use state-of-the-art technology, build scalable infrastructure and create extensive branch and business correspondent network in order to provide last-mile access and intuitive user experience to all sections of society.

Both the partners see formation of the Payments Bank as an opportunity to lead and co-create an eco-system for accessible and affordable banking solutions. The statement also said that the proposed payments bank will digitise payments and act as a catalyst towards a cashless society.

Recruitment of Assistants in Clerical Cadre in State Bank of India (2014-15)

SBI at last announced for Recruitment of Assistants in Clerical Cadre in State Bank of India (2014-15) Advertisement No. CRPD/CR/2014-15/02 On-line registration of application : 26.05.2014 TO 14.06.2014 for details visit sbi.co.in or click here

SBI tops ATM expansion in non-metros: Assocham

Mumbai, September 19: Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) is more aggressive in expanding its ATM (automated teller machine) network in the non-metro and semi-urban centres as compared to its peers, according to a study by Assocham. "Unlike other banks, the State Bank of India (SBI) is expanding its ATM network in non-metro and semi-urban centres, faster than expansion in the metros," the study based on the recent Reserve Bank data said. As compared to the 5,783 ATMs in metro cities, SBI has 7,511 and 6,419 ATMs in non-metro urban areas and semi-urban areas, respectively, the Assocham statement said.
SBI's peer in the state-run banks space, Punjab National Bank is the only other bank which has more ATMs in non-metro cities than the metros, it said. The objective of financial inclusion can be better achieved by the usage of technological interventions, including ATMs, and public sector banks have an important role to play in the objective, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat was quoted as saying.
Overall, the private sector banks, led by Axis Bank have gone about expanding their network through ATMs in a much more aggressive way than their public sector peers.  Be it, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank or HDFC their bias and preference for ATMs is for the metro cities, followed by tier two cities.Among the private sector banks, Axis Bank has the largest (10337) ATM network, followed by HDFC Bank with 9709 such machines and ICICI Bank - 9366 ATMs.
Excepting the SBI, the other banks have to go a long way before achieving the financial inclusion in the semi-urban and rural areas.
“The Finance Ministry is rightly very keen of achieving the financial inclusion of a large number of people in rural areas.  This can best be achieved by leveraging of technology and use mobile telephony and ATMs. Somehow, the public sector banks will have to take a lead in these areas. Even their brick and mortar branch network is wider in the rural and semi-urban areas than the private sector banks,” ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said.
He said while a good beginning has been made, pooling of technology resources like the ATMs should be encouraged so that optimum use can be made to the advantage of the people. The ASSOCHAM quoted honourable Finance Minister Mr P Chidamabaram who recently noted how even the trade has not been fully brought into the banking network.
“As was pointed out by the Finance Minister, today traders are not able to deposit their cash of sales proceeds at night in any bank. In the process, they have to keep it either in the shop premises or at home taking the risks of theft and other insecurity issues. We must have technology-driven day and night banking so that a wider section of the informal economy is brought into the banking network,” Mr Rawat said. While the RBI has been expressing concerns over regulatory issues over the mobile banking, sooner or later different technology platforms have to converge and the regulators need to equip themselves to deal with new challenges and opportunities.
The ASSOCHAM said a large number of Indians still remain outside the banking network.  It is because of lack of the organized banking that the gullible people in semi urban and rural areas fall prey to unscrupulous money-lenders. “The institutions of micro-finance did make a good beginning. However, because of certain corporate governance issues, the entire experiment has become rather overshadowed by controversies. The use of technology to reach out to the bottom of the pyramid promises a lot of scope,” the ASSOCHAM Secretary General said.

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.

SBI group requires Rs 1 lakh crore to meet Basel-III norms

Chennai & Mumbai, September 7: The State Bank of India and its associates and subsidiaries will require around Rs 1 lakh crore of capital over the next five years to meet Basel III norms (in addition to retained earnings).  Diwakar Gupta, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of SBI, told Business Line this was based on a 20 per cent growth rate, and a return on equity of between 18 and 20 per cent. He conceded that the estimate could vary since growth rates during the last year as well as current year are lower.
The RBI estimates that Indian banks would need about Rs 5 lakh crore in the next five years to get ready for Basel-III norms that will be effective from 2018. The norms, developed in the backdrop of the global crisis in 2008, impose higher capital prescriptions on banks to cater to various risks.
Asked about the capital that the bank would receive from the government in the current year, Gupta said, “The number being bandied about in the press is closer to Rs 4,000 crore. We are reasonably comfortable with capital. Rs 4,000 crore will see that we don’t breach anything.”
SBI received Rs 7,900 crore infusion from the government last fiscal. He said, “We don’t need further capital under Basel III all the way up to 2015. Counter-cyclical buffer introduction may require capital beyond 2015. The extra 2.5 per cent will come up in 4 tranches and the fiscal 2015 may require a little capital.”

Capital conservation
Gupta also said that the bank would continue with its capital conservation strategy (routing SME, export credit through guarantee schemes thereby reducing the credit risk on such assets and also lowering the capital requirement on the loans). The measures had contributed to a 62 basis point rise in the tier-1 ratio of capital last fiscal (one basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point). SBI had a capital adequacy ratio of 13.8 as of June with tier-1 ratio at 9.8 per cent.
He added, “We will try a couple of other levers, but by and large we will improve the integrity around our data and around our ratings better. We clawed back 91 basis points totally last time. Hopefully this year, we will do another 25- 30 basis points based on the same parameters.”

Rating agencies
Asked if the improvement in capital ratio would warrant a ratings upgrade by rating agencies, Gupta said, “It is very hard to say. Our stock is taking a beating. In the short term, markets reflect the mood more than the basics and I think that is the case for rating as well. Asset quality is a problem for all banks and therefore the rating agencies are well within their rights to say that there is enough stress to warrant a ratings revision. But another big item that they said affected the ratings was the inability of State Bank to raise capital at will. Now this has not changed since 1955. Why suddenly that should become an important factor while re-considering a rating? I think it is more a factor of perception than fact. We will, of course, ask the rating agencies to review our performance which is quite strong.”
Gupta said that SBI was delivering the second largest corporate profit in the country and was the largest taxpayer. “That is something the rating agency should also look at,” he added.

SBI for nearly six-fold rise in PoS terminals to 1,00,000 by March

Mumbai, September 5: State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, plans to take its point of sale (PoS) terminals to 1.00,000 by the end of this financial year, to expand its current account (CA) base. “Our current PoS terminals are 18,500 and we plan to take it to 32,000 by October and 100,000 by March,” R Karthikeyan, chief general manager, corporate strategies and new businesses, told reporters on the sidelines of the Ficci-IBA banking summit.
SBI had engaged Visa International and Elavon as joint venture partners for setting up 6,00,000 PoS terminals across the country. However, this was called off in January this year, over differences on sharing of technology. The volume of transactions through a PoS is about Rs 4 crore a day for SBI, with the average size being Rs 2,800. Axis Bank is the market leader in this segment, with around 2,30,000 PoS terminals.
SBI is the largest debit card issuer in the country. It had about 100 million cards as of June. “We want to leverage this number to expand our PoS terminals,” said Karthikeyan. “This is a part of our endeavour to promote more electronic transactions.” He said the bank would look to Tier-II and Tier-III towns and even rural areas to expand the base.
The bank’s Current Account share at the end of the first quarter was Rs 83,485 crore or 8.1 per cent of total deposits, down 187 basis points sequentially from 10 per cent.

SBI slashes domestic term deposit rates

Mumbai, September 5: Amid a dry pipeline of loans and challenges in managing excess cash, State Bank of India on Wednesday reduced interest rates on domestic retail term deposits by 50-100 basis points. The bank said the revision in rates was for deposits of up to five years. The new rates would be effective from Friday.
For deposits of up to Rs 15 lakh, the new rate for a period of 241 days to less than a year was 6.5 per cent (the previous rate was 7.5 per cent), while that for a period of a year to less than two years was 8.5 per cent (earlier nine per cent), according to a statement by the bank.
Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said the bank had huge surplus funds and very few proposals for loans. “From April 1 to August 31, our deposits increased by Rs 78,000 crore, while credit growth was only about Rs 20,000 crore. Second, the pipeline for loan growth, particularly for large credit, is rather dry. That is why we decided to go slightly slow in deposit mobilisation, because there doesn’t seem to be enough utilisation of the deposits. And, if we hadn’t done that, it could have affected margins.”
However, he said this might not lead to reduction in the base rate. “This is only to slow deposit mobilisation,” he said, adding the impact of Wednesday’s rate cut on the cost of funds would come with a lag, as it would only apply to new deposits.
At the end of June, SBI’s cost of deposits stood at 6.24 per cent, compared with 5.66 per cent a year earlier. While the yield on advances was 10.86 per cent, compared with 10.43 per cent in the year-ago period, net interest margin was 3.57 per cent, against 3.62 per cent a year earlier. Chaudhuri said with the revision in deposit rates, the incremental growth in deposits may turn slow. SBI’s retail term deposits rose 25 per cent to Rs 4,36,976 crore in the year ended June, while total deposits rose 16 per cent to Rs 11,02,926 crore.
For short-term deposits of 91-179 days, the new rate is 6.5 per cent (earlier seven per cent). For 180-day deposits, the rate has been revised from seven per cent to 6.5 per cent, and for 181-240 day deposits, the new rate is 6.5 per cent (7.25 per cent earlier). On reviewing credit growth estimates, Chaudhuri said, “We have not yet revised (lowered) the credit growth target for the current financial year. We are still looking at 18-20 per cent growth. The first quarter is generally slow. The consumer segment is accounting for credit demand. The industrial and commercial segments are very slack.”

Retirements will create 1.8 lakh vacancies in public sector banks

The banking industry will need to hire 9-11 lakh employees over the next five years, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group.

The report, which includes a survey of about 14,000 customers, 50,000 bank employees and analysis of data obtained from about 35 banks in the country, said about half of the hiring will be due to attrition.

The banking sector is expected to grow at approximately 20 per cent over the next decade and will need major induction of talent, a significant part of which is to replace vacancies arising due to retirements in public sector banks. At the current rate of attrition, the industry will need to hire over four lakh more people.

“We will hire around 6,000 this year,” said Pratip Chaudhari, Chairman, State Bank of India.

Retirements in public sector banks will continue to increase and peak by 2017. In total, 1.8 lakh employees will retire and will be replaced. Depending upon the productivity growth, the industry will need 2.5-4.5 lakh additional people for growth in business.

Saurabh Tripathi, Partner & Director, BCG, said: “Public sector banks will have to double the current intake of employees to meet the talent needs of future.”

Pratip Chaudhuri said lateral recruitment has to be done with a lot of care

Mumbai, September 4: State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri on Monday said that lateral hiring in banks had led to frustration among existing employees.
Speaking at the curtain-raiser of the Ficci Banking Conclave, Chaudhuri said, “A high degree of lateral recruitment brings disappointment and frustration to the existing cadre and they end up saying ‘what was our fault’.”
Chaudhuri said lateral recruitment has to be done with a lot of care. In addition, he said, lateral recruitment done by some banks at general manager level, except in specialist positions such as economists or law, has not worked out well.
For SBI, Chaudhuri said, there is very little lateral recruitment, and attrition is at the end of career span (after 30-35 years).
Talking about banking in rural areas, he was of the view that employees are not ready to relocate to rural areas. “Mostly what happens is that if you say that an employee is posted at Mumbai, he/she is very happy. But the day you tell them that you have to relocate to Surat or Nashik, that is when attrition happens.”
As a solution to this issue and to boost financial inclusion, Chaudhuri suggested that banks change the way they compensate people. He explained that the compensation structure of any employee was biased in favour of metros.
“I think we need to have a reverse compensation.
There should be a compensation to work in rural, semi-urban areas. In the next wage revision with the Indian Banks’ Association, this would one of the things (that would be addressed),” he added.

SBI signs MoU with Japan Bank for International Cooperation to help Japanese SMEs

MUMBAI: The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today signed an MoU with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to help small companies from the far east nation to do business here.
Regional banks from Japan do not have a presence in India but SMEs from that country operating here or planning to enter the market here need to avail of financial services and "This MOU would assist JSMEs (Japanese small and medium enterprises) to meet their financial requirements from SBI," the SBI statement said.
JBIC has been mandated by the Japanese government to coordinate with regard to the needs of JSMEs.
The MoU was signed by SBI's managing director and group executive (International Banking) Hemant Contractor and managing executive officer of JBIC, Kazuo Yuhara, today.

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.

SBI to cut processing and conversion fees on home loans

With the advent of festival season India’s largest lender – SBI has embarked upon a special campaign to ramp up its home loan book. It is going to reduce the processing fee for home loans to Rs.1,000 per loan irrespective of the size. The offer would be made available from September 1 onwards, a senior bank official told.
With the advent of festival season India's largest lender - the State Bank of India (SBI) has embarked upon a special campaign to ramp up its home loan book. It is going to reduce the processing fee for home loans to Rs.1000 per loan irrespective of the size. The offer would be made available from September 01 onwards, a senior bank official told.
Currently, loan processing is at 0.25% of the loan amount subject to a cap of Rs 6,500 for loans upto Rs.75 lakhs. For any higher loan amount, the maximum fee ceiling is Rs.10,000.  For example, if you apply for a loan of Rs. 20 lakhs, you need to pay a processing charge of Rs.1000/- With the new offer, it will be uniform at Rs.1,000 for a home loan. However, the offer would end on 30th November, 2012.
At the same time, the banking behemoth is actively mulling reduction in conversion fee which is presently at 1%. For all banks, conversion fees are in the range of 0.50-2%. This move, if implemented, will help the existing (SBI) home loan customers, who are not entitled to get the benefit of reduced interest rates to avail of the lowered interest rates. Let’s assume the loan size is Rs.30 lakhs and a customer has already repaid Rs.10 lakhs. Therefore, he has to pay Rs.20,000/-(i.e. 1% of 30-10 lakhs) one-time upfront for the conversion.
Earlier, SBI cut the interest rates on home and auto loans by over 50 basis points, effective from August 07. However, it did not change the base rate (remains at 10% p.a), the benchmark rate below which the Reserve Bank of India does not allow any bank to lend. Now, a home loan borrower can avail of a home loan with interest at 10.25% as against 10.75% prior to the rate cut, for a ticket size of Rs 30 lakhs. The interest rate will be 10.40% for loans above Rs. 30 lakhs. The EMI on Home Loan tenor of 30 years is Rs.897 per lakh which is the lowest in the market.
However, the new rates are available only to the new customers. So, a customer who had taken a loan at a higher floating rate viz. 11.25% will be keen to avail the benefit of the current lower rate. So, he can convert his loan to the new rate by paying the conversion fee. "Those proposed moves by RBI will certainly benefit customers, who should tap opportunities right in time. However, the bank cannot just keep on doing this beyond a point as it may hurt their margins," said Anil Rego, CEO and founder, Rights Horizons, a Bangalore based advisory firm.
With 26% market share, SBI continues to be the leader in home loan market followed by the privately held housing finance company- HDFC.  "We have got some surplus funds after RBI cut statutory liquidity ratio by 1% to 23%. We have decided to utilize it in expanding our retail business. The Bank is aiming at 20-25% growth in its home loan portfolio. As the country's largest bank, we have a vital role to play in supporting the economy", said the official.
As of July, SBI's home loan portfolio stood at around Rs 1.06 lakh plus crores. Total retail loans stood at Rs 1.86 lakh crores in the April-June quarter. To facilitate home loan borrowers, it is planning to upload the list of housing projects, approved by the bank shortly.  The bank has tied up with 1,046 such projects across India till July in 2012-13. In order to enlist its projects, a builder has to meet certain norms prescribed by SBI. For listed projects, the bank sanctions home loans in 4-5 days while it takes around 14 days to approve a home loan for other housing constructions. The lender offers a loan to value (LTV) of 90% for home loans upto Rs 20 lakhs and upto 80% for loans above Rs 20 lakhs.

SBI officers protest against 7-day schedule

Lucknow, August 28: Officers of the State Bank of India held a demonstration in front of the bank's local head office on Tuesday to oppose the reported move of the bank's management for introducing seven-day banking in SBI.
Addressing the meeting, BK Awasthi, general secretary of State Bank of India Officers' Association said that in the present times when services of alternate channels like ATM, internet banking and mobile banking etc are available to customers, introduction of seven-day banking is not feasible. The move will not only adversely affect the staff of the bank but also drain out the valuable energy resource of the country.
He said that central government offices, secretariat and apex banks like RBI, Nabard etc are having 5-day week, where no difficulty is being experienced at their end. Besides employees' organisations in the banking industry are pleading for a 5-day week in the banking industry and the proposal is pending with the Indian Banks' Association, he added.

SBI Card launches online application service 'Click2Card'

New Delhi, August 28:  SBI Card today launched online application service and aims to acquire about 3,000 customers through this initiative in next four months.  "Click2Card is another innovative service offering and is in line with our digital roadmap. This new platform will offer significant customer benefits, the primary being convenience," SBI Cards & Payment Services CEO Kadambi Narahari said here.
The company, which is the country's second largest credit card issuer and promoted by State Bank of India and GE Capital, aims to acquire 3,000 customers via online mode by December this year. The company, which has issued about 23 lakh cards aim to open 25,000 accounts next year through online mode, he said.
Last year, the company opened 4 lakh accounts through all distribution channels, he said, adding, SBI Card intends to add 5.6 lakh card in the current fiscal. Targeted at the Internet-savvy customers across India, who are increasingly transacting on the Internet, Narahari said, Click2Card allows customers to enter their details on a specially designed secure web interface.
The customer's application for a credit card is approved, declined or referred on the basis of the credit history with the credit bureau and the SBI Card risk and policy norms, he said. The customer has a real-time experience, and is updated on the status of his or her request instantly, he said, adding that for all approved or referred applications, the system sends back a soft approval (approval in principle) and the assigned credit limit. Subsequently, the customer is contacted by SBI Cards representatives to complete the documentation requirement. The documents and the information provided on the online platform need to match with those provided to the representative.