BANK G.K FOR SBI P.O

                       

                                               January
Ø Jan 2: Canara Bank, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR), has launched "Udaan" in Jammu and Kashmir in co-ordination with NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) and the Government of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
     Note: R.K. Dubey is the Chairman & Managing Director, Canara Bank.
Ø Jan 3: Corporation Bank has launched a year-long campaign for the delivery of agriculture credit and financial inclusion initiatives at all its branches.
Ø Jan 3: Targeting young individuals, public sector Indian Overseas Bank today launched ‗Connect Card‘, a new ATM cum Debit card in association with VISA that can be used for e-commerce across five lakh merchant outlets.
Ø Jan 5: Canara Bank said it will soon open a branch in New York as it has got regulatory approvals from the US authorities.
Ø Jan 7: Banks are likely to start charging customers for transacting more than five times a month at any bank ATM, including their own bank.
Ø Jan 8: Recommending sweeping changes in the banking structure, an RBI panel has suggested setting up of specialised banks to cater to low income households to ensure that all citizens have bank accounts by 2016.
     Note: The panel, headed by banker Nachiket Mor, was set up by Raghuram Rajan on The day of taking over as the RBI Governor, to suggest steps for promoting financial inclusion.
Ø Jan 8: Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first all-women bank, signed an agreement with Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for financing students pursuing chartered accountancy.
Ø Jan 8: The RBI-appointed committee on financial inclusion has recommended that the central bank should set up specialised banks called Payments Bank to provide payment services and deposit products to small businesses and low-income households.
Ø Jan 9: The Reserve Bank of India has allowed Non-Banking Financial Companies, NBFCs to lend up to 75 per cent of the value of gold.
Ø Jan 11: The Bank of Japan and RBI concluded an agreement that expands the maximum amount of the bilateral swap arrangement (BSA) between the two countries to USD 50 billion.
     Note: The agreement was signed by BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and RBI  
     Governor Raghuram Rajan and has become effective as of 10th January 2014.
Ø Jan 11: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has reduced refinance rate for banks and other lending agencies by 0.20 per cent to promote rural credit and rural infrastructure.
Ø Jan 11: Syndicate Bank has introduced such a facility for its customers where a customer could give a missed call at his bank to know his account balance.
Ø Jan 13: ICRA has assigned a ‗AAA (hyb)‘ rating with stable outlook to State Bank of India‘s Basel III compliant Tier II Bonds aggregating Rs 2,000 crore.
Ø Jan 14: Corporation Bank will launch ‗Corp Micro Plus‘, a special campaign for micro enterprises from January 17 to March 31.
Ø Jan 17: Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI Cards have joined hands for roll-out of credit cards to customers of India‘s first women-focused commercial bank.
Ø Jan 18: The Reserve Bank has decided to conduct Open Market Operations (OMO) by purchasing four government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on January 22  
Ø Jan 21: With Anand Sinha relinquishing his charge as Deputy Governor, the Reserve Bank of India has re-allocated his portfolios among the remaining three Deputy Governors — K.C. Chakrabarty, H.R. Khan and Urjit Patel.
Ø Jan 21: Reserve Bank of India announced that it had set up an expert panel to review governance of bank boards and make recommendations.
     Note: Headed by former Axis Bank CEO PJ Nayak, the panel will review the RBI's regulatory guidelines on ownership of banks and representation in their boards, among other things.
Ø Jan 22: The expert committee, which was headed by Urjit R. Patel suggested 4 % CPI inflation target.
Ø Jan 24: In order to minimise the risk of defaults, RBI has issued revised guidelines for loan restructuring norms by non-banking financial companies, NBFCs.
Ø Jan 24: State Bank of India strengthened its social media presence with the launch of its channel on popular video sharing website Youtube and said it will also be launching its handle on the micro-blogging site Twitter soon.
Ø Jan 24: Vakrangee Ltd has received the Reserve Bank of India‘s final authorisation of the White Label ATM licence.
Ø Jan 28: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan again surprised the markets and raised the key policy rate by 0.25 per cent to 8 per cent in a bid to curb inflation, a move that may translate into higher EMIs and push up the cost of borrowing for corporates.
Ø Jan 28: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan again surprised the markets and raised the key policy rate by 0.25 per cent to 8 per cent in a bid to curb inflation, a move that may translate into higher EMIs and push up the cost of borrowing for corporates.
Ø Jan 28: The Reserve Bank said the growth is expected to fall below 5 per cent in 2013-14 in absence of pick-up in manufacturing sector, but likely to recover to 5.5 per cent in the next financial year.
Ø Jan 29: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development projected a credit potential of Rs 12726.83 crore in the state focus paper (SFP) for the year 2014-15 in Uttarakhand under the priority sector.
Ø Jan 30: The Reserve Bank of India has doubled the sub-limit for foreign investment in government securities, to USD 10 billion by long-term investors.
Ø Jan 31: RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has said that he disapproves the demand made by banks to charge their customers for using ATM services.
Ø Jan 31: RBI has released guidelines that will help banks in early recognition of bad loans and prompt steps for recovery or sale of unviable accounts.

                   February
Ø Feb 4: The Reserve Bank of India has raised the Foreign Institutional Investors, FIIs investment limit in the Power Grid Corporation to 30 per cent of its paid up capital.
Ø Feb 7: The Reserve Bank has issued ‗certificate of authorisation‘ to four non-bank entities, including Tata Communications Payment Solutions and Muthoot Finance, to set up White Label ATMs (WLAs) in the country.

     Note: The other two non-bank entities to which the Reserve Bank has issued the certificate for setting up and operating the White Label ATMs are Prizm Payment Services and Vakrangee Ltd.
Ø Feb 8: For greater adoption of mobile banking in the country, a Reserve Bank of India panel has recommended that all mobile network operators (MNOs) load single mobile banking application on all new SIMs (subscriber identification modules), which use encrypted SMS (short messaging service) for transaction processing.
Ø Feb 8: Plastic notes in the denomination of 10 will be introduced on a pilot basis.
Ø Feb 9: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it has removed 26 per cent cap on the interest rate that can be charged by a microfinance company to its borrowers.
Ø Feb 9: Operations at public sector banks are impacted as employee unions are on a two-day nation-wide strike to press for wage revision.
Ø Feb 12: People without a bank account in India would soon be able to withdraw cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) with the use of mobile technology.
     Note: The Nachiket Mor Committee suggests the creation of Payment Banks as a step towards this goal.
Ø Feb 20: Nominated banks and agencies would not be permitted to import gold in excess of their entitlements in the first or second lot under the 80:20 scheme, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) declared.
Ø Feb 21: Punjab National Bank has applied for opening of two branches in Pakistan, one each in Lahore and Karachi, but these branches have not been approved by the competent authority.
Ø Feb 22: Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first all-women bank, tied with New India Assurance to launch health insurance products for women account holders of the bank.
Ø Feb 25: The Bimal Jalan panel which was scrutinising applications for new bank licences has submited its report to the Reserve Bank of India.

     Note: The report contains names of entities eligible for bank licences. It was not immediately known how many applicants have been shortlisted by the high-level advisory panel.
Ø Feb 26: NABARD Chairman H K Bhanwala has said that the process of migrating to the core banking solution has been completed at all the Regional Rural Banks.
Ø Feb 27: ICICI Bank launched ‘branch on wheels‘ in Odisha as part its financial inclusion plan to provide banking services in remote villages in the state which are devoid of banking facilities.
Ø Feb 28: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the country‘s first post office savings bank ATM at the Head Post Office in Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai.

                      March
Ø March 2: The Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, BBK, plans to expand its operations in India by opening its fourth branch in the country in New Delhi.
Ø March 2: Corporation Bank has bagged the awards for lending to MSE (micro and small enterprises) and to micro enterprises from the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for 2012-13.
Ø March 2: Indian Bank has bagged national award for excellence in lending to micro enterprises for 2012-2013, for the consecutive second year.
Ø March 4: RBI has extended the date for exchanging pre-2005 banknotes to 1st January, 2015.
     Note: The Reserve Bank has further clarified that the public can continue to freely use these notes for any transaction. RBI has said that people can unhesitatingly receive these notes in payment, as all such notes continue to remain legal tender.
Ø March 7: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expects to hand out new bank licences in a few weeks.
Ø March 9: State-run banks may set up only 14,855 ATMs by December, leaving an uphill task of installing close to 20,000 more cash dispensing machines by March-end to achieve the target of at least one onsite ATM in every branch.
Ø March 15: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the trade related remittance limit from 2 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees per transaction with immediate effect. It also increased the number of transaction handled by exchange houses.
Ø March 16: Federal Bank launched its Namma Metro Transit-cum-Debit Card in partnership with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.
Ø March 16: Singapore‘s DBS Bank said it had agreed to buy the Asian private banking business of French lender Societe Generale in a deal worth $220 million, boosting its access to the region‘s super rich.
Ø March 21: KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, has quit three months ahead of completion of his term.
Ø March 22: The RBI has decided to utilise unclaimed bank deposits, which are estimated at 3,650 crore rupees for education and awareness of depositors. The apex bank has announced the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme for the purpose.
Ø March 22: The Reserve Bank came out with final guidelines for the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with regard to the early detection and recovery of bad loans.
     Note: The guidelines will be effective from 1st April.
Ø March 22: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued notice to banks to take measures to counter the threat expected to arise from discontinuation of Windows XP from 8 April 2014.  Microsoft the maker of the Windows XP operating system will be withdrawing support for the operating system from 8 April 2014. Microsoft introduced Windows XP in October 2001.
Ø March 22: The Government of India divested its 9 percent stake in Axis Bank on 21 March 2014. The divestment resulted into generation of 5500 crore rupees.
Ø March 23: Customers should be given a free copy of their credit profile as it would help in promoting financial discipline among loan seekers, an RBI report says.
Ø March 23: Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited, which is an all women bank established four months earlier, has opened a new branch in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
Ø March 25: Bank of India (BoI) launched Instant Money Transfer (IMT) scheme in Mumbai.
Ø March 26: The Reserve Bank of India has decided to increase the maximum limit for investment in Inflation Indexed National Saving Securities - Cumulative (IINSS-C) from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per annum for eligible individual investors and from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per annum for institutions such as HUFs, Charitable Trusts, Education Endowments and similar institutions which are not pro-profit in nature.
Ø March 26: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched its online social account integrated with Facebook and Twitter.
Ø March 28: To promote centralised clearing of OTC derivative products, the Reserve Bank eased stand-alone primary dealers' exposure ceiling to a qualified central counter party by keeping the limit outside the existing 25 percent of net-owned funds.
Ø March 28: Canara Bank has opened its 6000th ATM at Vikasa Soudha (Secretariat Building), Bangalore.
Ø March 29: India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose by $1.34 billion to $298.63 billion for the week ended March 21, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.
Ø March 31: The RBI‘s recent delay of Basel III implementation offers Indian banks more time to meet the minimum capital requirements, Fitch Ratings said in a report.
Ø March 31: Raghuram Rajan headed search panel has zeroed in on a successor to RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty and PNB Chairman K R Kamath is believed to be top in the reckoning.