IndiaFirst Life launches Simple Benefit Plan

 Private insurer IndiaFirst Life Insurance launched ‘Simple Benefit Plan’ that offers dual benefits of a life cover and assured savings.

“Simple Benefit Plan offers an insurance cover on your life and additionally helps you earn and secure returns on the money that you invest with us, with premiums as low as Rs 174 per month.

“This plan is customised for people who want to save and at the same time secure their families from uncertainties of life, but do not have large disposable incomes.”

The plan term is between 10 to 20 years and offers a death benefit equal to the sum assured plus five times the annual premium, guaranteed amount and additional earning from bonuses.

It also provides tax benefits. Customers can also access their money easily during any emergency by availing a loan of up to 90 per cent of the surrender value.

IndiaFirst Life Insurance is a joint venture between two public sector banks — Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank — along with UK’s leading risk, wealth and investment company Legal & General.

ATM network crosses 1-lakh mark

 The number of ATMs in India has crossed the one lakh mark, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). All the banks put together have plans to install an additionally about one lakh ATMs over the next two years, raising the number of ATMs per million population to about 170 ATMs from 85.

As of October 2012 the total number of ATMs was 1,04,500. Public sector banks and the State Bank group with about 61,500 ATMs accounted for 59 per cent of the ATMs. The private sector and foreign banks put together have about 41,800 ATMs accounting for 40 per cent of the ATMs and the balance 1 per cent represents about 1,150 ATMs that have been deployed by co-operative banks/RRBs.

Almost all the ATMs in the country are part of NPCI’s National Financial Switch (NFS) network which facilitates routing of ATM transactions through inter-connectivity between the bank's systems, thereby enabling ATM/debit cardholders of the country to utilise the services in any ATM of a connected bank.

Nearly 200 million transactions are processed every month in NFS, of which 75 per cent are cash withdrawal transactions with an average ticket size of Rs 3,300. The balance 25 per cent transactions are non–financial transactions.

Besides cash withdrawal and balance Inquiry transactions, NFS supports other Value Added Services (VAS) such as pin change and mini statement through the ATMs. There are plans to increase the VAS through Card-to-Card transfer, cheque book request and statement request through the ATMs. 

Master card and Thomas Cook Came up Together for Travel Prepaid Cards

Thomas Cook (India), the integrated travel and travel-related financial services company on 1 November 2012 launched prepaid foreign exchange borderless prepaid card in collaboration with MasterCard Worldwide, a global payments and technology company.

The borderless prepaid card is going to enable travellers with an option of loading eight currencies on a single card that is US Dollars, British Pounds, Euro, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Swiss Francs, Singapore Dollars and Japanese Yen.

The borderless prepaid card is basically a multi-currency card which has a validity of five years. The person carrying the card is liable for getting the visiting country’s currency loaded on the card which enables him to save money and time.

The borderless prepaid card come up with an embedded chip and PIN which ensures  security and increased protection against counterfeiting and skimming card frauds.

The company is also offering a free replacement of the card within 72 hours if in case it is stolen or had been lost. It also has 24x7 global emergency assistance via toll free access in over 80 countries.

The master card came to this idea after a Consumer Segmentation Study in which they had found that around 36.7 per cent affluent Indians want to go overseas for a holiday.

The collaboration with MasterCard, is supposed to grant an acceptance at over 34.3 million merchant establishments, e-commerce websites and access to 2 million ATMs.

IBPS GENERAL AWARENESS EXPECTED PRACTICE MCQs

1. Who among the following never discharged the duties as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India?
1) Man Mohan Singh
2) M. Narasimham
3) P.Chidambaram
4) R. N. Malhotra
5) Dr. Bimal Jalan

2. On 5th October 2012, World Bank agreed to provide loan of $ 500 million to India for?
1) Infrastructure projects in the Southern Part of Western Ghats.
2) Upliftment of poor people residing in Andaman Nicobar Islands.
3) Repairing the old dams in the Coastal parts of Karnataka.
4) Providing the water to the region of Bhundelkand.
5) Secondary Education Project named Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

3. On 16th October 2012, an Indian-American Banker Vikram Pandit resigned as the CEO of ?
1) BNP Paribas Group
2) ICICI Group
3) Axis Group
4) Federal Bank Group
5) Citi Group

4. Citi Bank headquarters is at ?
1) Mexico City
2) Paris
3) New York
4) Tokyo
5) Tel Aviv

5. In the minting of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 paper currency, RBI uses OVI. OVI means?
1) Oval Variation Ink
2) One Variation Ink
3) Optically Value Ink
4) Optically Variable Ink
5) None

6. Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley were conferred with Noble Prize 2012 in the field of?
1) Economics
2) Physics
3) Medicine
4) Chemistry
5) Peace

7. Days list given. Pick the incorrect one.
1) International Day of the Older Persons - 1 October
2) World Habitat Day - First Monday of October every year
3) UN International Day for National Disaster Reduction - 13 October
4) World White Cane Day (Guiding the Blind) - 16 October
5) International Day for the Eradication of Poverty -17 October

8. List of Bird sanctuaries in India given. The wrong combination is?
1) Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary - Rajasthan
2) Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary - Kerala
3) Kolleru Lake Bird Sanctuary - Andrha Pradesh
4) Vedanthankal Lake Bird Sanctuary - Tamilnadu
5) Jayakwadi Bird Sanctuary - Maharashtra

Muthoot Finance wins award

Muthoot Finance Ltd has received the Golden Peacock Award for ‘Excellence in Corporate Governance’ for the year 2012 in London. The award ceremony hosted by Institute of Directors (IOD) at the London Global Convention 2012 was given on the basis of recommendations of the jury headed by Justice P.N. Bhagawati, former Chief Justice of India and member of the UN Human Rights Commission.

Centre of Science and Environment and HSBC Bank came Together to Impart Environment Training

Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) on 17 October 2012 announced Partnership with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corpoartion Ltd (HSBC) to set up modern Environment Training Institute in Alwar district of Rajasthan.

The Institute that will set up will be offering short and long term courses on Environmental governance for regulators and decision makers.

Both the organization will be improving environmental governance in India by building capacity of environment regulators, non-government organizations and industry.

The institute will cover the multiple research disciplines such as air pollution, water and waste water management, climate change, sustainable industrialisation and urbanisation, renewable energy, public transport and mobility and environment impact assessment.

The Institute is going to be developed as an incubation, development and demonstration centre for green technologies.
 
 Centre of Science and Environment (CSE)

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1980. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.

Centre of Science and Environment uses knowledge-based activism to create awareness about environment related problems and helps in proposing sustainable solution.

ICICI Bank Signed an Agreement with Eco Bank of Africa

ICICI Bank on 15 October 2012 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated of Africa in order to extend their banking services across their combined footprint in India and Africa.

The MoU was signed in Tokyo by Vijay Chandok, President - International Banking Group of ICICI Bank Ltd and Arnold Ekpe, Group CEO of Ecobank.

India’s trade with Africa has doubled in the past four years. Stronger investment ties are complementing this steady growth in trade with Indian investments in Africa across a range of sectors including oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, fertilizers, IT and infrastructure.

About Ecobank

Eco bank is a pan-African banking conglomerate, with banking operations in 35 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in West Africa and Central Africa, serving wholesale and retail customers. Ecobank was incorporated in Lome, Togo. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated is the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group.

About ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank Limited is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in India, with consolidated total assets of US $ 111 billion as on June 30, 2012.
It is the second largest bank in India by assets and third largest by market capitalization.

BANKING AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs

1. Which of the following is known as Plastic Money?
A) Demand Draft
B) Credit Card
C) Debit Card
1) Only A
2) Only B
3) Only C
4) Both B and C
5) All A, B and C

2. KYC guidelines followed by banks have been framed on the recommendations of the ...........
1) Ministry of Home Affairs
2) Ministry of Information Technology and Human Resource Development
3) Indian Banks Association
4) Ministry of Finance
5) Reserve Bank of India

3. Business Correspondents in banking are for:
1) Providing services for the Platinum Customers
2) Providing services for children
3) Serving the educational institutions
4) Serving the weaker sections of society
5) None of these

4. What is the full form of FDI?
1) Foreign Development Investment
2) Fiscal Development Investment
3) Foreign Direct Investment
4) Fiscal Direct Investment
5) None of these

5. CMD of a public sector bank is appointed by:
1) Reserve Bank of India
2) Indian Banks Association
3) Central Government
4) Respective Bank's Board of Directors
5) None of these

6. What is the current Statutory Liquidity Ratio?
1) 23 %
2) 24 %
3) 20%
4) 4.5%
5) None of these

7. Expand CTS.
1) Cheque Truncation System
2) Cash Transaction System
3) Current Transaction System
4) Credit Truncation System
5) None of the above

8. Micro finance development equity fund is managed by:
1) RBI
2) NABARD
3) Indian Banks Association
4) Asian Development Bank
5) None of these

9. What is the full form of LIBOR?
1) London Inter - Bank Offer Rate
2) Liquidity Inter - Bank Offer Rate
3) Liquidity International Bank Offer Rate
4) London International Bank Rate
5) None of these

10. Which of the following does not come under core sector?
1) Crude Oil
2) Natural Gas
3) Coal
4) Electricity
5) Automobile

RBI open to raising cap on global e-commerce deals

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is open to looking at increasing the limit on international e-commerce transactions now set at $3,000, a top official said on October 8.

“If the system wants the limit to be enhanced, that is something that we are positively inclined to look at,” RBI Executive Director G. Padmanabhan said on the sidelines of a CII event.

Mr. Padmanabhan said the limit was set in consultation with PayPal, a major player among the international payment gateways, and added that as many as 99 per cent of the e-commerce transactions fell under the limit of $3,000.

Rationale

Giving rationale for setting the limit (there are no limits for domestic e-commerce transactions), he said it was needed in a country like India which had exchange controls.

On extending trading hours in the forex market, the RBI official said it was difficult to relax as “we do not have full capital account convertibility.”

HDFC Bank & Indian Oil came Together to Provide Banking Services in Rural Areas

HDFC Bank on 4 October 2012 tied up with Indian Oil Corporation where rural Petrol Pump Outlets of Indian Oil will act as HDFC Bank Business Correspondent (BCs). It is unique and first kind of tie-up, where an oil distribution company is coming up with the bank to make available modern banking services to the people of remote areas. The Indian oil is going to make it possible through Kisan Seva Kendra which is an retail outlet model pioneered by Indian Oil to cater to the needs of customers in the rural segment.

HDFC Bank planned to cover 1000 Kisan Seva Kendras in a phased manner and each of these outlets will be able to serve around 1,500 customers. The Kisan Seva Kendra outlets will offer banking services such as preliminary processing of loan applications, disbursal and collection of small value deposits, sale of micro-insurance, mutual funds and other investment instruments. HDFC plan is to bring 10 million families into its banking Fold.