HSBC has announced that it will be offering discounts on many of its financial services and products as part of its annual January sale. Customers can enjoy half-price offers on current accounts as well as some three and six-month specials offers on HSBC's online high interest deposit bonds. HSBC is also offering half-price discounts on many of ... [full story]
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The central board of direct taxes (CBDT) has notified the categories of tax payers who are mandatorily required to electronically pay (e-payment) taxes on or after Apr. 1, 2008. A company and such other taxpayers (other than a company), to whom provisions of section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 are applicable have been brought within the ambit of ... [full story]
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As many as 1041 computerized branches of public and private sector banks are likely to receive advance income tax (I-T) in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These arrangements have been made for the convenience of the income tax assesses, it added. Of the 1041 bank branches, 983 branches are public sector bank ... [full story]
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Indian federal bond yields are expected to be ranged early on Tuesday ahead of the central bank's interest rate review by around 11:15 a.m. (0545 GMT). A slight majority of analysts expect the central bank to hold its key lending rate steady although a cut is expected before the end of March, a poll showed. The central ... [full story]
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While the credit crunch might mean fewer of us have money to play with, more of us than ever will be looking it after it on our mobiles. According to analyst house Juniper Research, 150 million people across the world will be using mobile banking by 2011. These millions will be mostly based in developed countries, with 70 ... [full story]
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India expects to get USD three billion from the World Bank in two tranches by March 31, 2010, to help it recapitalise public sector banks, besides National Housing Bank and EXIM Bank. The World Bank may most probably give the first phase of the loan by June this year, a senior finance ministry official said here. He said ... [full story]
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The Reserve Bank of India said it would conduct a special repo auction for 590.80 billion rupees ($12.1 billion) on Friday. The reversal of the auction will be on Jan. 30, it said in a statement. The special repo facility was introduced on Oct. 14, offering 200 billion rupees to meet liquidity needs of mutual funds. The ... [full story]
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Equities market were in deep red Tuesday tracking weak Asian markets. With US markets shut, Asia took cues from Europe, where Royal Bank BSE of Scotland nosedived after signaling the biggest loss in UK corporate history. Analysts say that traders should be cautious in keeping long positions and look at shorting opportunities. “As per overall formation of the market ... [full story]
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Royal Bank of Scotland said Monday it lost more than £20 billion ($30 billion) last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history, including a huge goodwill hit on its purchase of parts of ABN AMRO in 2007. RBS said credit and market conditions deteriorated further in the fourth quarter and it will report a loss before goodwill impairments ... [full story]
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Bank stocks swooned for the seventh time in eight days Friday, as the news of another big setback in the economy overshadowed some modest progress in the restructuring of the troubled financial sector. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) tumbled 14%, reversing an earlier 12% gain after the company confirmed it would receive $138 billion in government aid for ... [full story]
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Britain announced a second rescue plan for the country's ailing banks on Monday, hoping to thaw frozen lending by offering to insure banks against large-scale losses on bad assets they already hold. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the government would offer to insure banks against default on toxic loans in exchange for legally binding commitments to make credit more ... [full story]
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sian shares slumped on Tuesday on concerns that increasing woes in the global financial sector will deepen the world's economic downturn, highlighting the difficulties confronting incoming US President Barack Obama. The tumble came after Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday unveiled the biggest loss in UK corporate history, and after Britain launched a second bank rescue plan that failed ... [full story]
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The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate by half of a percentage point to 2% on Thursday, matching its lowest-ever rate as inflation plummets and recession spreads. The cut, in line with consensus forecasts, marks the fourth cut in just over three months amidst signs the financial crisis is biting hard into the real economy and inflation ... [full story]
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The World Bank has hired another Indian IT major Tata Consultancy Services to do much of the work previously being done by Satyam, which has now been debarred by the bank from doing business with it. “We have hired Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to do much of the IT work that Satyam used to do,” a World Bank spokesperson ... [full story]
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Lloyds TSB Bank has agreed to pay a $350-million penalty to settle a probe that it illegally handled financial transfers for Iran and Sudan in violation of US sanctions. A Justice Department statement on Friday said Lloyd's "has accepted and acknowledged responsibility for its criminal conduct" in a criminal complain filed in US district court in New York. ... [full story]
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Seeking to avoid a Satyam-like financial fraud, the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Friday decided to review the earnings statement of all companies that figure in the elite stock trackers Nifty-50 and Sensex-30. “Such a review would be in relation to the last quarterly results and last audited annual financial results,” the regulator said in a statement. ... [full story]
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Brazil's largest state-owned bank, Bank of Brazil, announced on Friday the acquisition of 49 percent of rival Votorantim Bank for 4.2 billion reais (1.83 billion U.S. dollars). The purchase was completed after several months of negotiations. With the acquisition, Bank of Brazil expects to increase its participation in the vehicle financing sector, in which the Votorantim Bank has 12 ... [full story]
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HSBC has emerged as the most consistently competitive mortgage lender during 2008, reveals analysis by Mform.co.uk. The lender has come out on top despite refusing to offer deals through brokers. Mform.co.uk monitored the number of times lenders appeared in its top 10 best buy tables and awarded points for each appearance during 2008. Lenders with the most points ... [full story]
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The Bank of England has cut rates to 1.5%, making it the first time rates have fallen below 2% in the bank’s 314-year history. Lloyds TSB and its lending arm Cheltenham & Gloucester has already pledged to pass on the rate cut to its existing customers on variable and tracker mortgages. Nationwide has also promised to pass the ... [full story]
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Shares of UCO Bank gathered momentum Wednesday after the state-run lender said on Tuesday the government's stake would fall to 63.59 per cent as a result of a capital restructuring scheme. The government owned 74.98 percent of the bank earlier. UCO Bank restructured its equity capital by reducing it by almost one-third from the current level of around ... [full story]
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In today's tight economy, nothing will kill a business quicker than insufficient cash flow. As financing becomes harder to come by, it's more imperative than ever that small businesses maintain enough liquidity to weather hard times, say experts. This requires instituting tighter cash flow management and inventory controls to get a better handle on moneycoming in and out ... [full story]
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Shopping center operator General Growth Properties (GGP) is still in talks with lenders to extend the deadline on $900 million in mortgages after negotiations over the weekend failed to produce a required unanimous agreement. Shares slid 16% to $1.52 as the uncertainty about the company's future continues. Talks over the weekend to extend the loan, which originally was ... [full story]
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Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG on Thursday agreed to buy back a total of nearly $30 billion in risky auction-rate securities that regulators said the banks marketed to customers as safe. The Securities and Exchange Commission formally approved the settlements with the two banking giants following preliminary deals that were reached in August. Securities regulators in Texas and New ... [full story]
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HSBC has today announced a $5 billion global working capital fund for small and medium-sized businesses to ensure they have access to appropriate credit through the current economic crisis, with £1 billion of the fund has being allocated to UK customers. The fund has been designed to help customers with fundamentally sound businesses weather short-term shocks caused by the ... [full story]
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Bank of America has offered to extend loans to cover the severance and holiday pay of laid-off workers staging a sit-in at a factory in Illinois. About 200 staff of Republic Doors and Windows have been occupying it since being laid-off with three days notice. Their union said the protest would not end until details had been finalised. ... [full story]
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The Bank of England has cut interest rates by one percentage point, from 3% to 2% - the lowest level since 1951. The move, which followed a dramatic cut in November, has been welcomed by many commentators who said the cut should help the slowing economy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged lenders to pass on the cut ... [full story]
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With some large infrastructure projects facing hurdles in achieving financial closure, companies are seeking a hike in the sectoral exposure limits of banks. Infrastructure projects include power, roadways, ports, airports, special economic zones (SEZ), among others Under the Reserve Bank's current exposure norms, a bank can fund a single borrower only up to 15% of its capital funds. This ... [full story]
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed lending norms for tier-II urban co-operative banks (UCBs), making it easier for them to lend to commercial real estate and non-banking finance firms (NBFCs). The central bank has rationalised and reduced the standard asset provisioning requirements for tier-II UCBs from 1 to 2 per cent earlier to 0.40 per ... [full story]
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Consumers shopping online are increasingly turning away from traditional financial institution-controlled credit and debit cards to embrace cash-based alternative payment options, according to an analysis by US-based Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin's 2008 Online Retail Payments Forecast suggests the current economic turmoil is taking its toll on credit card usage for online purchases, paving the way for further uptake ... [full story]
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Monitise Americas says another 23 US financial institutions, including community banks, credit unions and pre-paid providers, have signed up for its mobile banking services. The firm, a joint venture between the UK's Monitise and US fintech group Metavante, provides mobile banking and payments services on an "ecosystem" principle, which allows multiple carriers and financial institutions to deliver services over ... [full story]
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Over 60% of Brits who bank online believe they face a greater security threat now than when they first signed up to the service, according to a poll for vendor Xiring. The survey of 500 regular Web banking customers conducted by Vanson Bournem found nearly a third (31%) have either been a victim of online fraud themselves or have ... [full story]
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Shareholders of Whitney Holding Corp. will get a smaller dividend for the last quarter of the year as Louisiana's biggest bank tightens its belt to contend with the nation's unraveling economy. The publicly traded parent of New Orleans' Whitney National Bank announced that it would pay shareholders a fourth-quarter dividend of 20 cents per share of common stock. The ... [full story]
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