Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 20, 21 and 22 December 2020

By PendulumEdu | Last Modified: 22 Dec 2020 18:39 PM IST

Main Headlines:

Topic: Corporates/Companies

1. Asian Development Bank (ADB) signs $40-million loan agreement with Northern Arc Capital (NACL).

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $40-million loan agreement with Northern Arc Capital (NACL).
The loan is aimed at helping microfinance borrowers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India.
The loan agreement will enable NACL to support small and mid-sized NBFCs across microfinance, small business loans and affordable housing finance.
Northern Arc Capital (NACL) is a Chennai-based NBFC. It connects NBFCs, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) to mainstream financers for debt fundraising.
Asian Development Bank (ADB):
- It is a regional development bank established in 1966.
- Members: 68 countries (49 members are from Asia pacific region)
- It is headquartered in Mandaluyong, Philippines.
- Masatsugu Asakawa is the current president of ADB. Ashok Lavasa has recently become Vice-President of ADB.

Topic: Banking System

Rupay Select Debit Card has been launched by Central Bank of India in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India.
Rupay Select Debit Card is a type of contactless Debit Card. It will provide customers complimentary health check-ups, lounge access at selected centres and an accidental cover of ₹10 lakh at no extra cost.
The card will make offline transactions in both transit and in retail purchases easier. The bank has also launched FASTAG (for electronic toll collection) in partnership with Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA).
Central Bank of India was founded in 1911. Its headquarters are in Mumbai. Its CEO is Pallav Mohapatra.

Topic: Reports and Indices

As per the latest report by NPCI, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has the best technology in India.
As per the report, PPBL has the lowest technical decline rate at 0.02% among all UPI remitter banks. It has a decline rate of 0.04% among all UPI beneficiary banks.
As per the report, the technical decline rate was higher in the case of all other major banks. It was around 1%.
Most other banks use third-party apps for UPI transactions. PPBL is the only bank in India that organically drives UPI transactions from Paytm’s ecosystem.
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd was launched in 2017. Satish Kumar Gupta is its MD and CEO.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI):
- It was formed in 2008 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
- It is a “Not for Profit” Company headquartered in Mumbai.

Topic: Reports and Indices

HDFC, ICICI, and SBI have become the top three banks as per BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 Wizikey Newsmakers Report released by Wizikey.
These three banks have done better than other banks in both quantity and quality of news.
As per the report, HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Yes Bank, PNB, HSBC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Deutsche Bank and IDBI are the top-10 banks of 2020.
In the category of top UPI and Wallets, Google Pay and Phone Pe have achieved first and second rank, respectively.
In the category of Neo Banks, Yono, Neo and Kotak 811 secured the first, second and third rank, respectively.
In the category of NBFCs, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation achieved the first rank. Its overall rank was 15.
Wizikey is a PR- SaaS (Software as a Service) start-up. Its report talks about the top 100 banks in India and emerging BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) models such as Wallets and UPI, Neo Banks, NBFCs, Small Finance Bank, Payments Banks.
Neo Banks are 100% digital (fully digital). They do not have any physical branches. Total 10 Neo Banks are functional in India. RBI does not currently provide licenses to Neo Banks.

Topic: Appointments

Siddharth Dhamija has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zaakpay.
Siddharth Dhamija has earlier served at PayPal India and as Chief Growth Officer at Razorpay.
Earlier, MobiKwik has given Chandan Joshi title of its co-founder.
Zaakpay is a wholly-owned subsidiary and payment gateway of MobiKwik.
MobiKwik is a fintech platform founded by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku in 2009. It is headquartered in Gurugram. Its CEO is Bipin Preet Singh.

Topic: Companies/Corporates

India Accelerator has signed MoU with Department of Information Technology, Electronics, and Communication (DITECH), Haryana government and Startup Haryana.
The partnership is aimed at developing a robust startup ecosystem in Haryana to stimulate innovation and growth of disruptive startups.
Under MoU, India Accelerator will make its online program available to young entrepreneurs to equip them with the knowledge, mentorship, and connections. It aims to support startups registered with Startup Haryana.
India Accelerator is a seed-stage accelerator program. It is an Indian institution with Global Accelerator Network. Accelerator is a term that refers to programs that provide support to young startups.

Topic: Indian Economy

Government has announced that the suspension of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will continue till March 31, 2021.
Governments’ order announcing suspension of IBC was to continue till December 25. It has been now extended.
Government has extended suspension of IBC to help businesses deal with challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister has said that all defaults arising on or after March 25 will remain out of the IBC for a full year.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC):
- It provides for the resolution of insolvency cases within 180 days.
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed on 1 August 2019.
- It fixed a time-limit of 330 days for completion of the resolution process.