SBI
and ICICI Banks will launch full banking operations in Singapore-
as per the QFB license. Two banks from India and nine
from Singapore have obtianed the QFB license. A QFB license-
Qualified Full Banking license allows a foreign bank to function
as a national bank in the host country
US MNC Morgan Stanley plans to launch private
wealth management services in India.The private banking
sector in India is growing rapidly and banks plan to expand
operations and hire aggressively to cater to the rapidly growing
millionaires in India.
The
Reserve Bank of India has issued an NBFC license to -Deutche
Bank. This NBFC -a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutche
Bank will enter both the corporate and consumer finance business.
The German bank had started its retail banking business in
India in 2005
Online management development programmes
are gradually getting popular with more and more participation
from top institutes, professionals and even corporates. Macmillan
India has tied up with four premiere educational institutes
for online courses such as - ' finance for non finance
professionals', corporate finance, international finance
etc .IIT Delhi has also has online programmes in finance for
non finance and international finance
The Trade Mark Registry in India has cancelled
the trademark awarded to the CFA course conducted by
the US based Chartered Financial Analyst Institute-CFAI. The
CFAI appears to have lost the nine year old case with the Hyderabad
based Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst of India-ICFAI.
But the cancellation does not in any way alter the quality
and the global recognition of the program conducted by the
US based CFA Institute.
The mandatory articleship for aspiring
Chartered Accountants in India may
soon become less tedious as students may be allowed to
work in non-audit companies such as KPOs, asset management
companies and hedge funds etc. to complete their articleship.
The proposed bill will be reviewed by the executive committee
of the ICAI. Once approved, CA students would have an
opportunity to work with non audit companies and earn market
remuneration during their articleship.
Bear Stearns- American Financial Services
company is entering India and
plans to be a full-fledged financial services company in India
covering institutional equities, fixed income, investment banking,
asset management etc. The company plans to acquire Ford Automotive
Finance company from its parent Ford Credit International.
State Bank of India (SBI),will shortly
foray into the general insurance space. The
general insurance company will be a tie-up with a foreign partner.SBI
has so far shortlisted 3-4 overseas partners and a final decision
will be made anytime during the year.
With rising job cuts, outsourcing and higher
taxes in the western world many
expats and foreigners are keen to work in Asia and India offers
tremondous opportunity. There is a severe shrotage of senior
and middle level professioanls and corporates in India are
keen to acquire talent from overseas.Though India is yet to
emerge as a hot destination due to stringent work permits and
work law.
Mumbai has been the hub of most of the
developments in Indian financial system. In recognition
of this, as announced in Budget 2005-06, Government appointed
a High Powered Expert Committee on Mumbai as an International
Financial Centre.The Committee included senior representatives
of Government and heads of several financial and market institutions.
The Committee submitted its report to Government recently....more
details at http://www.finmin.nic.in/mifc.html
The need to reward banks for setting up
branches in India's rural areas with
more liberal permission has been mooted by the Chairman of
the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.How to expand
in these seemingly unprofitable areas in todays highly competitive
banking scnerio is the moot point.Given the success of the
telecommunication industry's penetration in India's rural areas
, this may well serve as a model that could be applied for
achieving grassroot banking
With India emerging
as a big player in cross border acquisitions, the
move to harmonise India's auditing standards with
the global standards is on. ICAI -( The Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India ) is considering a proposal of rotating
audit firms for efficiency, the international practice is
to rotate the professional within the audit firms after seven
years.
CFA
Institute to wind up operations in India ?- The
All India Council of Technical Education has asked the
US-based CFA Institute to stop operations in India. The
Institute has informed members that it cannot guarantee
that the exams will be held as per schedule in India.The US
based CFA institute has been offering the CFA degree globally
and it is well recognised the world over. The AICTE decison
to ban CFA from oprerating in India though legaly valid
appears to be harsh.The Institute
maintains that the CFA course is neither a technical programme
nor a diploma, and therefore not subject to the AICTE regulations,
and will continue to comply with all regulatory decision.This
is offcourse for the courts to decide.The controversy is
the result ofa trade mark dispute between US based CFA
Institute and the Hyderabad based ICFIA over the use of "CFA" in
its name and the diploma offered.Whatever be the outcome,
AICTE should allow the students already enrolled to take
part in the exam and should not seek to prevent the US
based Institute from operating in India. A better approach
would be to bring it under its regulatory framework. |
