Page 5 - BANKING FINANCE JULY 2016
P. 5
BANK UPDATE
BANKING
NEWS
Payment Banks of postal Bandhan Bank reports the 1st profit of Rs 275 cr
dept. to run on different Bandhan Bank Ltd said it posted a net profit of Rs.
275.24 crore, or Rs. 3.40 per share, till 31 March, in
ownership the little over six months since it started functioning
as a bank. The former microfinance lender, which
Union Communications and IT Min- launched itself as a bank on 23 August, has till now
ister, Ravi Shankar clocked revenues of Rs. 1,731 crore, it said in a regulatory filing.
Prasad said the gov-
ernment is consider- Its Managing Director and Chief Executive Chandra Shekhar Ghosh said the bank
ing a different own- has added around 700,000 new customers since last August and that it currently
ership structure to has around Rs. 13,000 crore in public deposits.
"professionally" run
the payments bank HSBC to shut down half of retail branches in India
of the Department of Posts. London-based Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation
(HSBC) has decided to shut half of its retail branches in In-
The government, which has commit- dia. "The network will consolidate from 50 branches across
ted to invest Rs 400 crore in the pay- 29 cities to 26 branches across 14 cities," the bank stated.
ment bank of the postal depart- About 300 employees are likely to be affected out of the
ment, is hoping to launch the bank total employee base in India that stands around 33,000.
by March 2017 said Prasad. "We pro-
pose to have Rs 400 cr investment by British lender RBS closing down 10 Indian branches
the government and the rest by way
of equity. It would be a separate ar- The troubled British lender RBS has said it will be finally closing down its 10
chitecture from the postal depart- branches in India serving the retail segment, a move
ment. The bank will be run profes- that will virtually end all of its customer-facing activi-
sionally," said Prasad. ties in the country.
The Postal department was one of The decision to wind up retail banking was in the mak-
the 11 entities to be given in-prin- ing ever since the Reserve Bank refused to clear the sale
ciple approval by the RBI to launch of its branches (than 16) to HSBC India a few years back. The British lender has
payments banks. However, at least been facing difficulties in the West following a series of scandals. The bank has
three companies - Cholamandalam, already sold Rs. 1,000-crore of retail loans to Singaporean lender DBS Bank.
Tech Mahindra and Dilip Shanghvi-
Telenor-IDFC - have already said they UCO Bank to raise Rs. 935 crore
would be surrendering their licences
citing aggressive play by competition. Shareholders of UCO Bank have approved a fresh issue of 22.55 crore shares to
the government on preferential basis for raising Rs. 935 crore.
BANKING FINANCE | JULY | 2016 | 5
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