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Showing posts from March, 2018

The Master Con Star just opened a Fake Karnataka Bank Branch

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          Aafaq Ahmed stumbled upon a great idea to draw attention to him, he went ahead and opened a fake bank branch of Karnataka Bank.           It is a million dollar question as to why he was attracted to the choose Karnataka Bank brand.           Karnataka Bank   is primarily a South Based Bank with a network of 781 branches spread across 22 states and 2 Union Territories.           The nearest branch of Karnataka Bank to Balia is Varanasi which is 4 hours away.           Aafaq Ahmed was running the fake bank branch for over a month and he had to shut it down when a man tipped of branch officials of Karnataka Bank in Delhi. The Delhi Branch officials initially refused to believe the presence of a fake bank branch and sought additional proof. The tipster sent photos of the fake branch through Whatsapp. These photographs convinced BBH Upadhyaya, who is additional general manager (AGM) of the Karnataka Bank Ltd in Delhi, about this bold act. He immediately swu

You Have Been Warned!!!! There will be long queues at ATMs and spikes in Digital Transactions

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List of upcoming Bank Holidays in March ending and April starting 2018: Date              Day              Holiday 29-Mar-18 Thursday      Mahavir Jayanti 30-Mar-18 Friday           Good Friday 30-Mar-18 Friday           Hazrat Ali's Birthday (Banks only in Uttar Pradesh closed) 31-Mar-18 Saturday       Working Day 02-Apr-18 Monday         Annual Closing of Bank Accounts           There will be immense pressure on ATM Service Providers to replenish cash at ATMS for the next days. Banks across India will be closed due to various festivals for the next few days.           Bank account holders are advised to utilise the Digital Banking channel rather than relying on physical cash.           Yes, there will be pressure on the Digital Banking channel, as there will be a spike in the transactions.           Please do intimate the respective bank’s customer service centre in case any issues in digital banking channels. There will be a d

The Future of CashLess ATMs in India is Bleak !!!

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            ‘CashLess’,   ATM’s have been in news across India-Bharath for the last few weeks. The first instance of ‘CashLess’, ATMs across India were during the DeMo time. However the same phenomenon has started to come back Indian bank account holders.           Consider the following news articles, which reflect on the growing number of CashLess ATMs in India. A)    Customers kick, damage cashless ATMs B)     Demon deja vu as ATMs go dry across Bengaluru yet again C)     Cashless ATMs a perennial problem in Nedumkandam... D)    TDP blames BJP-led govt for cash crisis in banks E)     No cash in ATMs; villagers left in deep agony F)     DeMon time in city suburbs as most ATMs go cashless G)     No ATMs, high transaction rate make Telangana’s cashless villagers dump cards H to K will be filled in after the continuous bank holidays later this week 7 Benefits of CashLess ATMs in Urban India Benefit 01) Push folks to Digital Transactions Benef

NPCI introduces New Mandate Category

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          NPCI NACH Team has announced the introduction of a new mandate category i.e “Small Value Mandate”. The “Small Value Mandate” is the outcome of the recent NACH Steering committee attended by member banks.   The Steering Committee meeting was held on February 8, 2018. No, the complete Minutes of Meeting of this Steering Committee are not in public domain. The details of this Mandate category are as under: Category Code : S001 Category Name: Small Value Mandate Amount Cap: INR1000/- Frequency: As and when presented Effective Date: April 15, 2018           There are more than 750 banks live on the NPCI NACH Debit platform. This new mandate category will enable sponsor banks to pull monies from accounts spread all over India in a single shot.                      

NPCI Guidelines on Interoperability features for all BHIM UPI Apps

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          The leading technology companies of the world have shown interest in India’s home grown Digital Transaction Channel i.e BHIM           The respective technology companies are pouring insane amounts of money to grow the ‘Safe ePayments’ market in India.           All this is good for consumers and merchants alike. To standardise the offerings in BHIM UPI Apps by different technology companies, NPCI today released the guidelines on mandatory Interoperability features for all BHIM UPI Apps           The circular reference number is : NPCI/UPI/OC- 15C/2017-18 16th March, 2018 addressed to   All Member Banks – Live on Unified Payments Interface Channel.           This circular is in continuation to the merchant onboarding and interoperability guidelines issued by NPCI through Circular 15, 15A, 15B & Circular 35, for all BHIM UPI apps including that of bank and merchant/ third party apps (PSP SDK and PSP Multi-bank).           The PSP Multi-Bank went

Aadhaar Payments Bridge – Introduction of Two new products

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          The growing popularity of Aadhaar Based Credits – APB has led to introduction of two new products under the APB umbrella.           National Payments Corporation of India vide circular dt December 26, 2017 addressed to APB Live Banks announced the two new products. The two new products are as under New Product 01) – HIG (DBT high value transactions) with header code as “33” and transaction code as “79” New Product 02) – OTH (Other non DBT   credits ) with header code as “33” and transaction code as “80” Background: Prior to introduction of the above two new products, APB had the following two products i.)              APB   (DBT transactions) with header code as “33” and transaction code as “77” ii.)            DBL   (DBTL transactions ) with header code as “33” and transaction code as “78” The maximum individual transactions in the above two products was capped at INR2 lacs. There was a demand for high-value transactions to be also routed

Reserve Bank of India imposes monetary penalty of INR5,00,00,000/-on Airtel Payments Bank Limited

          Reserve Bank of India has informed to public at large on march 9, 2018 that it has imposed, on March 07, 2018, a monetary penalty of ₹ 50 million on Airtel Payments Bank Limited (the bank) for contravening the ‘Operating Guidelines for Payments Banks’ and directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. The monetary penalty was necessary as Airtel Payments Bank has not adhered to guidelines/directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.           Reserve Bank of India has also clarified that this   action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Brief Background:- Based on the complaints and adverse media reports alleging that the bank had opened customer accounts without a clear/specific consent of the customers, a supervisory visit to Airtel Payments Bank was undertaken by RBI between November

Reserve Bank of India imposes monetary penalty of INR10,00,000/- on Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited

          Reserve Bank of India has informed to public at large that on March 01, 2018, it has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹ one million on Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited (the bank) for non-compliance with one of the licensing conditions stipulated by RBI. Reserve Bank of India has also clarified that this   RBI action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Brief Background Equitas Small Finance Bank reported having undertaken the activity of rolling out Mutual Fund units, Pension products, Insurance products and portfolio management services without obtaining prior approval of RBI. Based on the information received and other relevant documents, a Notice, dated January 18, 2018, was issued to the Equitas Small Finance Bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for non-compliance with the

Reserve Bank of India imposes monetary penalty of INR40,00,000/- on State Bank of India

Reserve   Bank of   India vide Press Release on March 07, 2018 informed to public at large, that it has imposed, on March 01, 2018, a monetary penalty of ₹ 4 million on State Bank of India. The monetary penalty was imposed for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes. Reserve Bank of India has clarified that this action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Brief Background: - The currency chest inspection of two branches of the bank by Reserve Bank of India officials, revealed inter alia, violation of the instructions issued by RBI on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes. Based on the inspection report and other relevant documents, a Notice, dated January 05, 2018, was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it f

RBI imposes Monetary Penalty of INR2,00,00,000 on Indian Overseas Bank

             Reserve Bank of India vide Press Release on Mar 5, 2018 that it has imposed a monetary penalty of INR2,00,00,000   on Indian Overseas Bank .   The   monetary penalty is for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on ‘Know Your Customer’   (KYC) norms. The onetary penalty was necessary as Indian Overseas Bank had failed to adhere to the aforesaid directions/guidelines issued by RBI on ‘Know Your Customer’   (KYC) norms. Reserve Bank of India has clarified that this penalty is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Brief Background : - A fraud was detected in one of the branches of Indian Overseas Bank. The examination of the documents, including the bank’s internal inspection report, revealed, inter alia, non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. Based on the do

RBI imposes Monetary Penalty of INR3,00,00,000 on Axis Bank Limited

          Reserve Bank of India vide Press Release on Mar5, 2018 has informed to the public at large that it has imposed, on February 27, 2018, a monetary penalty of ₹ 30 million on Axis Bank Limited (the bank) The monetary penalty is for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms. The penalty was necessary as Axis Bank did not adhere to the Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms. RBI has clarified that   this action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Brief Background : - The statutory inspection of the bank by Reserve Bank of India with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2016 revealed, inter alia, violations of various regulations issued by RBI in the assessment of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). Based on the inspectio