Courting law may not help derivatives-hit cos.
Byline: Priti Patnaik & Souvik Sanyal NEW DELHI: The companies which filed legal suits against domestic banks to get themselves out of the derivatives losses might not find it easy to get an immediate relief from courts. Experts believe that with no specific legislation to regulate derivative...

India ranks among top 10 contributors to HSBC growth.
MUMBAI: British major HSBC Plc's Indian operations were among the top 10 contributors for the group, globally. HSBC's Indian operations reported a 34.6% rise in profits before tax to $529 million for the calendar year 2007. This is against $393 million profits before tax for the previous year. The...

Core sector financing gets $5b.
Byline: Sidhartha NEW DELHI: There is more money waiting to chase big infrastructure projects with the government ready with the $5 billion overseas wholesale banking company, billed as India's version of Temasek to lend funds to core sector projects. While the broad contours were ready,...

Differentiated bank licences in the pipeline.
The Reserve Bank of India, plans to introduce the differentiated bank licensing policy. This means that specific banking licences would be issued depending on the core activity of the bank. Thus some banks may have only wholesale banking licence under which they can offer loans to corporates and accept...

HDFC Bank to foray into investment banking.
Byline: Partha Sinha MUMBAI: HDFC Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, is entering the highly competitive and hugely profitable business of investment banking. It has obtained the requisite merchant banking licence from Sebi and is in the process of setting up its team,...

Newcomers steal market share race in banking sector.
MUMBAI: Both public sector banks (PSBs) and old private banks are likely to lose market share to new age private sector and multinational players. A report released by McKinsey notes that the former set of banks, addressed as incumbents, need to prevent customers from getting dissuaded and stop themfrom...

ICICI to use NY branch for top-end services.
MUMBAI: ICICI Bank will use its recently-acquired New York branch licence to offer high-end retail banking and fund cross border M&A by India Inc. With an approval from the US Fed to open a branch in New York last week, ICICI Bank is now present in almost all the...

TD Bank Financial Group Comments On Expected Impact of TD Banknorth Inc.'s Fourth Quarter Earnings.
TORONTO, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TD Bank Financial Group announced today that it expects TD Banknorth's fourth quarter earnings to translate into first quarter net income for its U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking segment of CDN$64 million. TD Bank Financial Group will release its first quarter financial...

India adds more to StanChart's kitty.
MUMBAI: India Inc's drive for overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) has had its rub-on effects on the profits of global banks in India. A sharp rise in profit in corporate banking led by corporate advisory and corporate finance has helped Standard Chartered Bank's Indian operations to report a 69%...

Investing abroad? Keep an eye on the risks too.
Byline: Partha Sinha Indians now have the option of investing up to $100,000 each year abroad, courtesy RBI's recent policy change. You can put this amount into almost all investment products that are available outside India, including hedge funds, currencies and currency derivatives, besides a host of...