Banking, Financial and Economic Awareness of 7, 8 and 9 March 2021

Topic: Appointments

1. Indian-American Naureen Hassan appointed as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

• Board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York appointed Indian-American Naureen Hassan as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the bank.
• Her appointment as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Federal Reserve Bank of New York will come into effect from 15 March.
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approved her appointment. As First Vice President, Indian-American Naureen Hassan will be an alternating voting member of Federal Open Market Committee.
• John C. Williams is President and CEO of the New York Fed (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
• Indian-American Naureen Hassan has earlier served as Chief Digital Officer for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s headquarters is located in Manhattan, New York. Its headquarter building is known as 33 Liberty Street.  

Topic: Banking System

2. LIC will disinvest its stake in IDBI Bank.

• Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will reduce its stake in IDBI Bank to boost strategic disinvestment.
• However, LIC has not yet decided how much stake it will reduce from the IDBI bank.
• From January 2019, RBI had categorized IDBI Bank as a Private Sector Bank for regulatory purposes. LIC owns a majority stake in IDBI Bank.
• The government had announced a disinvestment target of ₹2.10-lakh crore for 2020-21. Out of this, ₹90,000 crores will come from the sale of government stakes in public sector banks and financial institutions.
• At present, the government holds 47.11 percent and LIC holds 51 percent stake in IDBI Bank.  

Topic: Banking System

3. NPCI and SBI Payments joined hands to launch ‘RuPay SoftPoS’ solution.

• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with SBI Payments to launch ‘RuPay SoftPoS ’.
• It will transform an NFC-enabled smartphone into merchant Point of Sale (PoS) terminals for the merchants.
• It will enable merchants to perform transactions of up to Rs 5,000 through their smartphones.
• It will provide a cost-effective infrastructure for merchants to promote contactless digital transactions.
• Merchants have to just download a supporting app to convert their smartphones into a payment terminal.
• This facility can be used for only NCMC cards and RuPay Tokenized Card.

Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes

4. SmartUp Unnati programme launched by HDFC Bank.

• HDFC Bank has launched the SmartUp Unnati programme on International Women’s Day.
• The purpose of the programme is to mentor women entrepreneurs by women leaders at the bank.
• Under the programme, senior women leaders from HDFC Bank will mentor women entrepreneurs over the next year. The programme is being offered only to existing customers.
• HDFC Bank Limited is headquartered in Mumbai. HDFC Bank is India‘s largest private sector bank. It was founded in 1994. CEO of HDFC Bank is Sashidhar Jagdishan.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

5. Axis Securities launched YIELD, an online platform to buy and sell bonds and debentures.

• Axis Securities launched YIELD, an online platform to buy and sell bonds and debentures.
• The platform will enable retail investors to have direct access to debt instruments. It will do away with the need for separate KYC with bond institutions.
• The platform aggregates only ‘AAA’ to ‘A’ rated quality debt instruments available. 
• Axis Securities is a 100% subsidiary company of Axis Bank. It is the third largest broking firm. It has acquired Karvy Stock Broking.
• As of December-end, ICICI Securities and Zerodha are the first and second-largest broking firms, respectively.

Topic: Banking/Financial Schemes

6.  Business Kisht Suraksha introduced by HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

• Business Kisht Suraksha has been introduced by HDFC ERGO General Insurance.
• Business Kisht Suraksha is a product to protect the balance sheet of MFIs, financial institutions and banks due to non-payment of EMIs or due to natural calamities.
• Business Kisht Suraksha is a product that can be customized on the basis of the needs of individual MFI or financial institutions.
• HDFC ERGO General Insurance is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd and ERGO International AG. ERGO International AG is the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group of Germany.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

7. The inaugural session of TechBharat 2021 addressed by Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

• Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan addressed the inaugural session of TechBharat 2021.
• TechBharat 2021 is an e-conclave that brings together stakeholders from Health Tech & Edutech sectors.
• Udyog Bharati and IMS Foundation organized the second edition of TechBharat on a virtual platform.
• TechBharat 2021 was held on 5 March and 6 March. TechBharat 2021 is the second edition of TechBharat.
• Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that equity in the delivery of healthcare needs to be ensured, and health care spending should be increased.
• He also said that there has been increase of 137% in allocation for the healthcare in Union Budget 2021-22. He also spoke about other schemes and initiatives already covered in the Union Budget 2021-22.

Topic: Corporates/Companies

8. BEL paid Rs 174.43 crore interim dividend for 2020-21 to the Defence Ministry.

• Rs 174.43 crore interim dividend for 2020-21 was paid by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to the defense ministry.
• This is the 18^th consecutive year that BEL is paying an interim dividend. It has announced that 140% as an interim dividend (Rs 1.40 per share) will be paid to its shareholders.
• M V Gowtama is the chairman and managing director of BEL.
• Bharat Electronics Limited is a Navratna Public Sector Undertaking. It is one of the nine PSUs under Defence Ministry. It was formed in 1954. It is headquartered in Bengaluru.

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