MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI) will open 101 branches running core banking solution (CBS) on July 1, its foundation day. SBI also plans to launch mobile banking the same day, sources told ET. This will make it the first state-owned bank to offer mobile banking.
The branches will be opened by finance minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi. Representatives of the new branches will participate via a videoconference. SBI has 10,100 of its 10,385 branches running CBS — where branches are networked to enable a customer to access his account from any SBI branch.
If SBI can reach even half of its customer base of 1.3 crore, it will emerge as the biggest player in mobile banking. The move comes close on the heels of the RBI releasing draft guidelines on mobile payment.
SBI, which bought its M-banking application from Spanco Telesystems, has been running internal pilots. "So far, it was offered only for staff to familiarise them with the product for effective marketing," said an SBI official.
Besides balance inquiries and transaction alerts, SBI’s M-banking will help users transfer funds up to Rs 1,500. The operator-independent service can be used to pay utility bills and will work on most of the basic handsets.
RBI has mandated that M-banking service must work on all mobile operators and use SMS as a medium for transactions. Many private banks offering M-banking will have to tweak their service to comply with the regulation.
"Looking at the huge and diverse customer base of SBI, we have developed a solution which will work across mobile operators and support various methods of communication," said Spanco Telesystems vice president (technology) Kamal Maheshwari, the company that has developed the solution for SBI.
"Going forward, we plan to add mobile wallet and merchant payment options to the system, which will virtually replace debit and credit cards with the phone," added Mr Maheshwari.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
SBI gears up to hike PLR
Bank awaits RBI move to finalise the extent of increase.
State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is likley to raise its prime lending rate (PLR) and is awaiting fresh monetary actions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to finalise the extent of the increase.
SBI had decided to hold on its prime lending rate of 12.25 per cent when the central bank raised the repo rate, or the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis points to 8 per cent. In its assessment, the bank could absorb the increase as the impact on its net interest margin was less than two basis points. SBI's net interest margin was 3.04 per cent at the end of March this year.
The bank's asset-liability committee (Alco), which met on Saturday, is divided on the issue. But a senior executive said the bank will be unable to absorb further increase in policy rates and will be forced to alter its prime lending rate.
The magnitude of the hike will be decided after RBI announces fresh measures to tame inflation which touched a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent at the end of the first week of June.
While SBI Chairman OP Bhatt had earlier said that the bank will have to review its PLR or alternatively look at raising interest rates on some of the loans it offered, the Alco had decided against the move. A part of the reason, executives said, was due to the anticipation of more steps from the central bank.
"We had anticipated that RBI will step in again since inflation continues to be a concern due to rising crude prices. But we can't do anything now till RBI announces its actions," a senior executive said.
A decision from SBI will set the tone for others. While the largest bank in the country is in a unique position, having raised its deposit rates earlier this month, other players have refrained from raising lending rates so far.
While none of the public sector players have raised rates so far, HDFC Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and Yes Bank have increased PLR by 25-100 basis points.
A host of banks have increased their deposit rates but lending rates are expected to be hiked only after RBI announces fresh steps. On Sunday, Punjab National Bank had indicated that it will increase PLR by 50 basis points.
Others like mortgage player HDFC have said that they will decide towards the end of the month.
State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is likley to raise its prime lending rate (PLR) and is awaiting fresh monetary actions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to finalise the extent of the increase.
SBI had decided to hold on its prime lending rate of 12.25 per cent when the central bank raised the repo rate, or the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis points to 8 per cent. In its assessment, the bank could absorb the increase as the impact on its net interest margin was less than two basis points. SBI's net interest margin was 3.04 per cent at the end of March this year.
The bank's asset-liability committee (Alco), which met on Saturday, is divided on the issue. But a senior executive said the bank will be unable to absorb further increase in policy rates and will be forced to alter its prime lending rate.
The magnitude of the hike will be decided after RBI announces fresh measures to tame inflation which touched a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent at the end of the first week of June.
While SBI Chairman OP Bhatt had earlier said that the bank will have to review its PLR or alternatively look at raising interest rates on some of the loans it offered, the Alco had decided against the move. A part of the reason, executives said, was due to the anticipation of more steps from the central bank.
"We had anticipated that RBI will step in again since inflation continues to be a concern due to rising crude prices. But we can't do anything now till RBI announces its actions," a senior executive said.
A decision from SBI will set the tone for others. While the largest bank in the country is in a unique position, having raised its deposit rates earlier this month, other players have refrained from raising lending rates so far.
While none of the public sector players have raised rates so far, HDFC Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and Yes Bank have increased PLR by 25-100 basis points.
A host of banks have increased their deposit rates but lending rates are expected to be hiked only after RBI announces fresh steps. On Sunday, Punjab National Bank had indicated that it will increase PLR by 50 basis points.
Others like mortgage player HDFC have said that they will decide towards the end of the month.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
SBI nudges higher after keeping lending rate steady
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 280 points, or 1.84%, to 15,469.81, on positive cues from global markets. US stocks closed higher on Friday, 13 June 2008, helped by a government report that showed underlying price pressures rose moderately in May 2008, easing fears that inflation would force a near-term rise in interest rates.
On BSE, 1.28 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 6.91 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 1365 and a low of Rs 1339 so far during the day. The stock struck a 52-week high of Rs 2396.54 on 14 January 2008 and the stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 1226.58 on 14 June 2007.
India’s largest commercial bank had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 June 2008, declining 20.60% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 12.47%. It also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 22.15% compared to Sensex’s decline of 3.62%.
The bank's current equity is Rs 634.88 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The current price of Rs 1344.30 discounts its Q4 March 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 119.29, by a PE multiple of 11.26.
Prime lending rate (PLR) is the minimum short-term interest rate charged by commercial banks to their most creditworthy clients. The decision was taken at a meeting of the assets-liability committee (Alco) of State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday, 14 June 2008. The Alco met to deal with the issue of interest rates in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) move to raise repo rates, or the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis points to 8%, on 11 June 2008, to contain inflation.
On 5 June 2008, State Bank of India signed an agreement with Societe Generale Securities Services, a division of Societe Generale Group, to form a joint venture company for providing custody services. The joint venture company will offer custody and related services in India. State Bank of India (SBI) and Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) will hold 65% and 35% respectively of the equity in the new company.
SBI’s net profit rose 26.1% to Rs 1,883.25 crore on 26.7% rise in operating income to Rs 16,393.93 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.
SBI provides banking, treasury and credit management services to individual and corporate clients.
On BSE, 1.28 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 6.91 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 1365 and a low of Rs 1339 so far during the day. The stock struck a 52-week high of Rs 2396.54 on 14 January 2008 and the stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 1226.58 on 14 June 2007.
India’s largest commercial bank had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 June 2008, declining 20.60% compared to the Sensex’s decline of 12.47%. It also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 22.15% compared to Sensex’s decline of 3.62%.
The bank's current equity is Rs 634.88 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.
The current price of Rs 1344.30 discounts its Q4 March 2008 annualised EPS of Rs 119.29, by a PE multiple of 11.26.
Prime lending rate (PLR) is the minimum short-term interest rate charged by commercial banks to their most creditworthy clients. The decision was taken at a meeting of the assets-liability committee (Alco) of State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday, 14 June 2008. The Alco met to deal with the issue of interest rates in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) move to raise repo rates, or the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis points to 8%, on 11 June 2008, to contain inflation.
On 5 June 2008, State Bank of India signed an agreement with Societe Generale Securities Services, a division of Societe Generale Group, to form a joint venture company for providing custody services. The joint venture company will offer custody and related services in India. State Bank of India (SBI) and Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) will hold 65% and 35% respectively of the equity in the new company.
SBI’s net profit rose 26.1% to Rs 1,883.25 crore on 26.7% rise in operating income to Rs 16,393.93 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007.
SBI provides banking, treasury and credit management services to individual and corporate clients.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
SBI revises foreign currency deposit rates
Largest public lender State Bank of India on Tuesday hiked the interest rates on foreign currency non-resident bank account deposits and non-resident external term deposits with effect from June 1, 2008.
Foreign currency non-resident bank FCNR (B) deposits in US Dollar, having maturity of one year to less than two years, would now attract an interest rate of 2.41 per cent as compared to 2.33 per cent earlier.
Rate of interest for deposits with 2-3 years maturity has been revised to 2.71 per cent from 2.43 per cent earlier, SBI said in a press release issued here.
For deposits having a maturity of five years, the rate has been revised to 3.47 per cent, against 3.11 per cent earlier, the bank said.
For Euro deposits, which would mature in 1-2 year period, the revised rate stood at 4.34 per cent against previous rate of 4.21 per cent while for 2-3 years and 3-4 years, the revised rates are 4.23 per cent from 3.78 per cent earlier and 4.11 per cent, against 3.68 per cent, the bank said.
Similarly, for deposits in Pound, the bank has revised the rate to 5.40 per cent (5.06 per cent), for a tenure 1-2 years while for 2-3 years and 3-4 years, rates have been revised to 5.26 per cent (4.65 per cent) and 5.21 per cent (4.62 per cent) respectively, the bank said.
For NRE deposits having a maturity 1-2 years the bank has revised the deposits to 3.16 per cent (3.08 per cent) while for 2-3 years and 3-5 years, the rates have been revised to 3.46 per cent(3.18 per cent) and 3.81 per cent (3.45 per cent) respectively, the bank said.
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