Banking Awareness of 9, 10 and 11 July 2022

Topic: RBI

1. PineLabs, Razorpay, Stripe and 1Pay have received in-principle approval from RBI for payment aggregator licence.

• In 2020, RBI had issued guidelines on regulation of payment aggregators and payment gateways.
• Under these guidelines, non-bank Payment Aggregators require RBI’s authorization under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• As per the guidelines, PAs were to achieve a net-worth of ₹15 crore by March 31, 2021.
• They were to achieve a net-worth of ₹25 crore on or before March 31, 2023.
• Payment aggregators (PAs) facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers.
• They facilitate them to complete payments without the merchant having to create a separate payment system of its own.

Topic: Banking System

2. Shriram General Insurance and City Union Bank have signed a corporate agency agreement.

• Under the agreement, City Union Bank will distribute Shriram General Insurance’s insurance products through its branch network.
• Under the agreement, Shriram General Insurance will offer both personal (motor, personal accident, home, travel) and commercial (property, engineering) insurance products to bank’s customers.
• The banks are permitted by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) to have agreements with three companies each for life insurance, general insurance, and health insurance.  
• The bank had a tie-up with LIC for life insurance. For life insurance, the bank will have two more partnerships — Bajaj and Tata AIG.
• The bank had a tie-up with Start Health for health insurance. It will have partnerships with Aditya Birla and Care Insurance for health insurance.
• City Union Bank is an Indian bank headquartered in Tamil Nadu. It is a Private Sector Bank. Dr. N. Kamakodi is its MD & CEO.

Topic: Banking System

3. Union Bank of India has launched ‘Uni-verse’.

• Uni-verse is Metaverse Virtual Lounge. It is in partnership with Tech Mahindra.
• It hosts the bank’s product information and videos in the initial phase.
• With Uni-verse, customers can roam around the lounge, get information on the bank’s deposits, loans, government welfare schemes, and digital initiatives, etc.
• Union Bank of India has also launched Open Banking Sandbox environment.
• Through Open Banking Sandbox environment, the bank will partner with fintechs and start-up partners to develop and launch innovative banking products.
• Union Bank of India was founded in 1919. Its CEO is A. Manimekhalai. It is headquartered in Mumbai. It is a government-owned bank.

Topic: RBI

4. RBI has imposed monetary penalty of ₹5.72 crore on Federal Bank.

• RBI has imposed a penalty on Federal Bank for non-compliance with the provisions of ‘Reserve Bank of India (Financial Services provided by Banks) Directions, 2016’.
• RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹70 lakh on Bank of India (BoI).
• It has imposed a penalty on BoI for non-compliance with certain provisions of the ‘Reserve Bank of India – (Know Your Customer (KYC)) Direction, 2016’.
• RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹7.60 lakh on Dhani Loans and Services Limited, Gurugram.
• Federal Bank is an Indian private sector bank with headquarters in Kerala. Its CEO is Shyam Srinivasan. Its tagline is your perfect banking partner.
• Bank of India is a government of India owned bank. It is headquartered in Mumbai. Atanu Kumar Das is its MD & CEO. Its tagline is “relationship beyond banking”.

Topic: Banking System

5. State Bank of India has partnered with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) to support the start-up ecosystem of Karnataka.

• SBI will partner with the Fintech Innovation hub at Mangaluru and leverage Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTSME) scheme to provide funding support to the start-ups in Karnataka.
• SBI will open an exclusive start-up desk in Bengaluru to offer services to start-ups.
• The branch will provide up to ₹2 crore loan to startups without collateral.
• KDEM will help SBI in opening branches across three clusters of Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Hubballi-Belagavi to assist start-ups based out of these clusters.

Topic: Banking System

6. Centre has extended the scope of newly created FSIB to public sector insurers (PSI), financial institutions (FIs) besides Public Sector Banks. 

• FSIB will also advise the government on the extension of terms and termination of services for whole-time directors, non-executive chairpersons across public sector entities in financial services institutions.
• Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has 11 members including the Chairperson. Chairperson will be nominated by Centre.
• Its ex-officio members are Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Secretary and IRDAI Chairperson.
• Three persons with knowledge relating to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions (FIs) will be nominated as part-time members.
• Currently, three members for PSBs and FIs are Animesh Chauhan, Shailendra Bhandari and Deepak Singhal.
• Three persons with knowledge relating to public sector insurers (PSI) are to be nominated as part-time members on the insurance front. 
• On the public sector insurance front, the Centre has nominated Usha Sangwan, A V Girija Kumar and Sujay Banerji.
• A Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India will be an ex-officio Member. 

Topic: RBI

7. RBI has allowed banks to settle trade transactions with Sri Lanka in permitted currencies outside Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism.

• This new rule has come into force with immediate effect. It will be in place until further notice.
• The members of ACU are central banks and monetary authorities of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Asian Monetary Unit (AMU) is the common unit of account of ACU.
• It is denominated as ACU dollar (equivalent in value to one US dollar), ACU euro (equivalent in value to one euro) and ACU yen (equivalent in value to one Japanese yen).
• Asian Clearing Union (ACU):
  • It is headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It has nine member economies.
  • It was established on December 9, 1974 at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

8. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has signed MoU with Indian Air Force under PNB Rakshak Scheme.

• State Bank of India (SBI) has renewed its MoU on defence salary package scheme with IAF.
• PNB Rakshak Scheme consists of personal accident insurance and air accidental insurance for serving, retired and trainees of defence forces.
• SBI’s defence salary package scheme includes complimentary personal accident insurance, additional aid in case of on-duty death.

Topic: Miscellaneous

9. PM Modi participated in the first ‘Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.

• The first ‘Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture’ was given by a Minister of the Singapore government, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
• The theme of the lecture was 'Growth through Inclusivity, Inclusivity through Growth’.
• Department of Economic Affairs has organized the first ‘Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture’ in memory of his invaluable contribution to the nation.
• The Prime Minister addressed the gathering and interacted with the delegates participating in the Kautilya Economic Conclave (KEC).
• Kautilya Economic Conclave was organized by the Institute of Economic Growth in association with the Ministry of Finance from 8th-10th July.

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