Banking Awareness of 23, 24 and 25 October 2022

Topic: Appointments

1. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has appointed Sangeeta Verma as acting Chairperson of Competition Commission of India (CCI).

• She was already a member of CCI. She has been appointed for three months or till any further orders.
• She had joined CCI as a Member on December 24, 2018.
• The incumbent CCI Chairperson, Ashok Kumar Gupta, demitted the office after a four year tenure.
• Competition Commission of India:
  • CCI was formed on 14 October 2003 under the Competition Commission Act, 2002.
  • It aims to eliminate practices that affects competition in Indian market and protect the interests of the consumers.
  • CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

2. Jakson Green had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan government.

• Jakson Green had signed the MoU to invest about ₹22,400 crore (roughly $2.8 billion) in Rajasthan to establish a Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia project in phases.
• Jakson Green will establish a 3,65,000 tonnes per annum Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia plant in Kota.
• Rajasthan government would facilitate Jakson Green in getting required registrations, approvals, clearances, and provide incentives.
• Jakson Green is a part of the Jakson Group, which is a diversified energy and Infrastructure company headquartered in Noida.

Topic: Appointments

3. Atul Kumar Goel has been re-elected as the Chairman of the IBA for the term 2022-23.

• He has been re-elected by the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
• He is Managing Director & CEO of Punjab National Bank.  
• The Committee also re-elected Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India as deputy chairman of IBA.
• It elected A S Rajeev, MD & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra as deputy chairman of IBA.
• It also elected Madhav Nair, Country Head & CEO, Mashreq Bank PSC as deputy chairman of IBA.
• The committee elected N Kamakodi, Managing Director & CEO, City Union Bank as the Honorary Secretary of IBA.
• Indian Banks’ Association:
  • It was founded in 1946. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Sunil Mehta is its current Chief Executive.
  • It started with 22 members. As on November 2018, its total membership is 249.
  • It is managed by a managing committee, which currently consists of one chairman, 3 deputy chairmen, 1 honorary secretary and 26 members.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

4. IndusInd Bank has signed an agreement with the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for a $150 million loan.

• The bank will use loan proceeds to lend to women borrowers in rural communities of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
• The bank aims to improve access to finance for women borrowers and uplift the livelihoods of these women and their families.
• IndusInd Bank:
  • It is a private sector bank founded in 1994. It is headquartered in Mumbai.
  • Sumant Kathpalia is its MD & CEO. Its tagline is we make you feel richer. 

Topic: Banking System

5. Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) has been launched by Intellect Global Transaction Banking (iGTB).

• BaaS is the ability of banks to embed financial services & products directly within their clients’ ecosystem as they serve their customers.
• iGTB’s BaaS offering includes three products in alignment with popular Embedded Banking models.
  • Direct Embedding (into B2B, B2C marketplaces and e-commerce platforms)
  • White labelling (to distribute banking services via fintechs or aggregators)
  • Enabling non-banks (to operate like a bank)   
• iGTB is the transaction banking and technology specialist from Chennai-based Intellect Design Arena.

Topic: Reports and Indices

6. Shiv Nadar has topped the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022.

• Wipro’s Azim Premji was the second in the list. Premji was also mentioned as the only living Indian to feature in the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropists of the Century.
• Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla stood at third and fourth place.
• Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha was the youngest philanthropist on the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List 2022.
• Rohini Nilekani tops the list of the most generous woman, followed by Leena Gandhi Tewari and Anu Aga.
• Ajit Isaac was the new entrant on list at the 12^th place. Rakesh Gangwal also featured for the first time on the list.
• AM Naik, group chairman of Larsen & Toubro, is the first professional manager to enter the top 10 in EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List.
• Amit Chandra and Archana Chandra are the only other professional managers on the list.
• Mumbai led the list with 33 percent of philanthropists, followed by New Delhi (2^nd) and Bengaluru (3^rd).
• Pharma Industry has the largest number of philanthropists in the list.
• EdelGive Foundation and Hurun Report have published EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List for the ninth year in a row.

Topic: Banking System

7. Credit cards-in-force fell for the second straight month in September.

• This is because credit card issuers shut inactive cards to comply with the guidelines of RBI.
• Cards-in-force declined 0.4% or by 2.9 lakh to 7.8 crore as of September 30, 2022.
• RBI has asked issuers to deactivate credit cards which are unused for over one year.
• As per RBI’s directions, issuers started deactivating credit cards with effect from July 1.
• RBI has also asked issuers to close cards that have not been activated for 30 days since issuance from October 1.
• Bank of America, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of India, HSBC, American Express and Citibank saw the largest percentage decline in cards.
• DBS Bank, SBM Bank India, Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, IDFC First Bank and Bank of Baroda saw a bulk of the card accretion during September.
• Kotak Mahindra Bank was the largest acquirer, followed by IDFC First Bank, Bank of Baroda, and IndusInd Bank.
• Despite decline in card numbers, car spend continued to increase. Card spends increased 9.1% on month to ₹1.2-lakh crore in September. 
• SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank gained market share. Their card spends increased by 19-28%. HDFC Bank lost market share by 234 bps.

Topic: Miscellaneous

8. Ministry of Railways decided to shut down Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COFMOW).

• COFMOW will be shut down from December 1, 2022.
• Ministry’s decision comes after the recommendation of the Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, on rationalisation of government bodies.
• COFMOW was established in 1979 to modernise Indian Railways workshops. It is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU).
• Railways has previously closed down Indian Railways Station Development Corporation.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

9. India will export green energy to Singapore from 2025.

• India’s Greenko group and Singapore’s Keppel Infrastructure have signed an MoU.
• Under the MoU to explore opportunities in green hydrogen potential in India, both will work together towards a 250,000 tonnes per annum contract.
• Under the MoU, the first shipment will be supplied to Keppel’s new 600MW power plant in Singapore.
• Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong virtually witnessed signing of the Greenko-Keppel MoU.
• Greenko is one of India’s leading Renewable Energy companies.

Topic: Miscellaneous

10. Pakistan removed from 'grey list' by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) after four years.

• The FATF took this decision at its plenary meeting held in Paris on 21 October.
• Pakistan's imports, exports, and remittances have all been impacted because of this inglorious grey listing, which has also restricted Pakistan's access to foreign funding.
• Pakistan was on the grey list of FATF since June 2018 due to deficiencies in its anti-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering regime.
• FATF decided to add Myanmar on its ‘black list’. Myanmar has been added to a group of high-risk countries, known as the ‘black list’.
• North Korea and Iran are on the ‘black list’ since 2020.
• The decision to include Myanmar has been taken due to its failure in resolving illicit financial flows.
• In June 2022, the FATF strongly urged Myanmar to complete its action plan by October 2022.
• Financial Action Task Force (FATF):
  • It is an intergovernmental organization. It was established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terror financing, and other related threats for the integrity of the international financial system.
  • Currently, it has 39 members, including two regional organizations - the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.
  • India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group.   

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