IDBI Bank to go on strike and other top Banking news of the day

Round up of the major headlines that dominated the Banking sector, nationally and internationally.

Employees of IDBI Bank have decided to go on a nationwide strike on Friday to oppose the government's move to dilute stake in the state-run bank. In Madhya Pradesh, there are 93 branches of IDBI and 700 officers and employees will take part in the strike. 

A foreign bank can deploy a maximum of four expatriates for each branch opened in India and not more than six expatriates for their Head Office functions, the Reserve Bank (RBI) said today. 

Swiss justice officials have issued their first order to send bank information to US prosecutors who in May charged 14 soccer officials and sports-rights marketers with racketeering, money laundering and bribery. 

Rating company Fitch has said that capital-raising will be the key for Indian banks as lenders look to revive credit growth in support of a recovering GDP outlook. In a report issued on Thursday Fitch said that there will be challenges for state-owned banks in particular, given weak core capitalisation and expectations of slow earnings recovery due to high credit costs. 

Affirming its credit ratings for Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Thursday said the public sector lender, whose stressed assets are about 20 per cent of its loan book, will continue to witness slippages from the restructured loan book. The chances of rating upgrade for the Chennai-based bank were remote in the next 12 months. 

State-run Union Bank of India today tied up with Maharashtra for over-the-counter (OTC) collection of taxes and receipts. 

Indian consumers seem to be becoming more proactive in demanding their financial rights and seeking actions against banks which failed to keep promises.