Lessons from the Hayes conviction

From The Financial Express –

“Last week’s conviction of Tom Hayes, in the infamous London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) rigging scandal, should be an eye-opener for Indian regulatory authorities. The scandal, which peaked around 2008, involved some major banks—including JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Barclays Bank—artificially understating the interest rate.

While it may no longer be shocking to hear Hayes pleading that such interest rate manipulations were common knowledge, both to his seniors and the banking sector in general, it may be heartening to note that RBI has taken proactive steps to counter similar manipulations of MIBOR—Mumbai Interbank Offered Rate—which was originally set up on the lines of LIBOR. Although it is not a global benchmark like LIBOR, it is, as the NSE defines it, the “yardstick for the money market”, serving as a reference in the interest rate swap market in India and a benchmark rate for majority of deals struck for interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements, floating rate debentures and term deposits.”

Read more>>

India: Low-value cash transfers get digital push in 2015

From The Times of India –

“Digitization of low-value cash transactions has begun with a bang on 2015. Latest initiatives announced on Thursday include a deal between Kotak Bank and Airtel Mcommerce and Kotak Bank for a payment bank, Yes Bank partnering Citrus Pay for a payment gateway and HDFC Bank introducing Chillr - an application that will allow customers to send to their contact's smart phone amounts as low as one rupee instantly. The person-to-person transfer is a precursor to the next phase when the bank will market this app to merchants.”

Read more>>

Will Africa’s Mobile Money Revolution Take Hold?

From AFK Insider -

“When mobile network operator (MNO) Safaricom launched its M-Pesa mobile payments system in Kenya seven years ago, few business models were as ripe to explode. With extremely high mobile penetration rates, a high proportion of unbanked households, a regulatory system that allowed telecoms companies rather than banks to lead the way, and a migrant population suffering from expensive domestic remittances, it is little wonder that more than two-thirds of Kenyan adults use the service today.

In fact, M-Pesa has become the largest driver behind financial inclusion in Kenya. Today, 66.7% of the country’s residents have access to formal financial services, compared to just 41.3% in 2009. In addition, 43% of Kenya’s GDP passes through M-Pesa.

But the service, which has also been quite successful in Tanzania, is not just the continental leader in mobile payments. It can additionally boast of operations in non-African countries where its parent company, Vodafone, operates, including Afghanistan, India, and even EU-member Romania.”

Read more>> 

Icici Bank launches banking by Facebook for non-resident Indian customers

From Finextra –

“ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, announced the launch of ‘Pockets by ICICI Bank’, an innovative desktop application that enables its NRI customers across the globe to access their bank accounts on Facebook.

‘Pockets by ICICI Bank’, offers the Bank’s NRI customers the convenience of banking while they are on the social media site. It also underscores the importance that the Bank attaches to the social media.”

Read more>>

Indian cheque truncation project completed

From Finextra

“NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced today the successful completion of the landmark Cheque Truncation System (CTS) project in India.

Started by the Reserve Bank of India, India’s Central Bank, in December 2007 to ease the process of cheque clearing in the country, this project changes the traditional physical movement of cheques to electronic clearing using NCR’s image-based software that is secure, fast and cost efficient.”

read more>>