NRI deposit inflows jump 23% till February: Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monthly bulletin

(NRI) deposit inflows jumped by 23% during the first 11 months of FY25, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). NRI inflows in deposits grew by Rs. 1,24,388 crore (US$ 14.55 billion) between April 2024 and February 2025, compared to Rs. 1,00,878 crore (US$ 11.8 billion) during the same period a year ago. The total outstanding NRI deposits at the end of February 2025 reached Rs. 13,70,661 crore...Read More

Incentivising NRIs to plug into India’s growth

India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City)  is emerging as an important destination for non-resident Indians (NRIs) to plug into their homeland’s growth story. With the Indian diaspora estimated at over 35.4 million, remittances and investments from NRIs are vital to the country’s financial ecosystem. GIFT City, with its favourable regulations...Read More

Appropriate Capital Rules Are Critical for Financial Markets

Setting capital requirements for globally active banks is a fine balancing act. As regulators learned during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), insufficient capital creates vulnerabilities in the banking sector that can have damaging consequences in times of stress. However, if banks are required to hold disproportionately high levels of capital, this will constrain their ability to act as intermediaries, negatively affecting liquidity in financial markets...Read More

Banks to pay customers millions after month's worth of IT outages

Nine major banks and building societies operating in the UK accumulated at least 803 hours - the equivalent of 33 days - of tech outages in the past two years, figures published by a group of MPs show. The Treasury Committee - which has been investigating the impact of banking IT failures - compelled Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, NatWest, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish...Read More

Bank of Baroda Unveils First-Ever Savings Account for Women NRIs

Bank of Baroda has introduced a specialised savings account exclusively for women NRIs, becoming the first Indian public sector bank to offer such a product. The BoB Global Women NRE & NRO Savings Account comes with a range of benefits, including concessional rates on home and auto loans, reduced processing fees, and full waivers on locker rent...Read More

Income Tax Bill 2025: Key clauses for non-resident Indians

The Income-tax Bill, 2025 has been tabled in Parliament, marking a significant step toward simplifying the language and structure of the Income-tax Act, 1961. No major tax policy changes and no modifications of tax rates have been made in the Income-tax Bill, 2025. Overall, there will be 23 chapters instead of 47, and there will be 536 clauses in place of 819 sections. The Income Tax Bill 2025 has several aspects...Read More

An NRI’s guide for ESOP taxation in India

The taxation of Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) can be intricate, particularly for Indian residents who become Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). This article explores the key considerations for NRIs related to taxation and repatriation of their ESOP holdings. ESOP is a benefit programme for employees that allows them to buy shares of their company at a specified price. To understand how ESOPs...Read More

Union Budget 2025: What Changes for Non-Resident Indians?

In the Union Budget presented on February 1, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced significant reforms aimed at bolstering the Indian economy and providing relief to taxpayers. For the NRI community, this budget brings several significant changes that warrant attention, especially given that India remains the highest recipient of global remittances. The new budget proposes a substantial...Read More

Banks Versus Tech Firms: How Competition and Collaboration Are Transforming the Financial-Services Industry

The provision of financial services was almost exclusively the domain of the banking industry once upon a time, particularly prior to the seismic events that unfolded in 2008. Fast forward nearly a couple of decades, and that landscape is markedly different today. Thanks to a digital revolution that ushered in the age of bigtech and agile fintech (financial technology) companies keen on unbundling, disrupting...Read More

RBI allows NRI to open rupee accounts abroad with authorized banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), along with the Central government, has reviewed the rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) to make it easier to carry out cross-border transactions in Indian rupees (INR) according to a statement by the RBI...Read More

Good news for NRIs: Now higher interest rates allowed on these NRI deposits in banks till March 31, 2025

The Reserve bank of India has announced that it has increased the interest rate ceiling on Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account FCNR(B) deposits to overnight Alternative Reference Rate (ARR) plus 400 basis points with maturities between 1 year and less than 3 years...Read More

Higher interest cap may have muted impact on NRI capital

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) move to keep higher interest rate caps on the foreign currency non-resident banks (FCNR-B) deposits till the end of the fiscal could have a sentimental impact on capital inflows from abroad via this route. However, it may not trigger much influx in the short term as the current dollar FCNR rates of banks are way below the current ceilings. The RBI move, in the wake of a recent dip in...Read More

Key Takeaways From the 16th Annual BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia

Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security” was the central theme promoted at the 16th BRICS Summit held in Kazan, Russia, from October 22 to 24, with the Kazan Declaration—the document adopted at the summit by all BRICS+ members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa plus Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia...Read More 

UAE NRIs: How to send money to India instantly with UPI

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), transferring money to India has become significantly easier and faster. According to media reports this week, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) now allows NRIs to use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for instant money transfers from their Indian bank accounts, such as Non-Resident External..Read More

Cognizant discriminated against non-Indian workers to prefer H-1B holders, US jury says

A US jury found Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. guilty of discriminatory practices against non-Indian workers, recommending punitive damages. This follows the failure to dismiss a 2017 class-action suit. Cognizant plans to appeal, insisting on its commitment to diversity and compliance with US visa regulations...Read More

Denmark Announces 40% Increase in Pledge to World Bank’s IDA

Denmark today announced its early, significantly increased financial commitment to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for low-income countries. Demonstrating the country’s continued dedication to global development, Denmark’s pledge of DKK 3,300 million represents a 40% increase compared...Read More

The World Bank and Qatar Partner to Drive Impact for Global Education

The World Bank, Qatar, and the global foundation Education Above All have announced a partnership focused on expanding quality access to education worldwide. Successive global challenges in recent years have led to an increase in out-of-school children and youth and a massive global learning deficit. Countries are urgently seeking...Read More

World Bank Group Launches High Level Council to Tackle Looming Jobs Crisis

The World Bank Group today announced the launch of the High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, a new initiative that will identify actionable policies and programs to address the looming jobs crisis in the Global South. Over the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion...Read More

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga's Keynote at G20 Global Alliance Against Hunger & Poverty in Rio

Poverty and hunger are intertwined and are impacted by many challenges that have far-reaching consequences if left unaddressed. For example, depriving a child of proper nutrition reduces learning potential and exacerbates health problems, which in turn significantly [17 percent annually] decreases income for the rest of their life. We know, and what Brazil has proven, is that this is entirely preventable...Read More

Vista Equity Considering Transfer of Pluralsight to Creditors in Ongoing Talks, Sources Say

Private equity firm Vista Equity is in talks to cede control of its company Pluralsight to lenders, according to three people familiar with the matter and fund documents reviewed by Reuters. The financial information in the documents sheds light on how Pluralsight is set to become the first major debt restructuring of a company that borrowed from "shadow banks". The term is used on Wall Street...Read More

Food Security Update | World Bank Response to Rising Food Insecurity

Domestic food price inflation remains high in low- and middle-income countries. Inflation higher than 5% is experienced in in 59.1% of low-income countries (2.0 percentage points higher since the last update on April 25, 2024), 63% of lower-middle-income countries (0.8 percentage points lower), 31% of upper-middle-income countries (2.0 percentage points lower), and 14.5% of high-income countries (1.8 percentage points higher). In real terms, food price inflation exceeded...Read More

Record-Breaking Global Carbon Pricing Revenues Surpass $100 Billion

In 2023, carbon pricing revenues reached a record $104 billion, according to the World Bank’s annual “State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2024” report released today. There are now 75 carbon pricing instruments in operation worldwide. Over half of the collected revenue was used to fund climate and nature-related programs. “Carbon pricing can be one of the most powerful tools to help countries reduce emissions. That’s why it is good to see these instruments expand...Read More

Martina Polasek Assumes Role of ICSID Secretary-General

Member States of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) have elected Martina Polasek as Secretary-General of ICSID.  ICSID’s Administrative Council—its governing body—confirmed Ms. Polasek’s appointment in a resolution adopted on April 30, 2024. Her term begins on July 1, 2024. She succeeds Meg Kinnear, who has served as ICSID’s Secretary-General since 2009...Read More

Empowering the Future: Ambitious Partnership Targets Electricity Access for 300 Million by 2030

The World Bank Group and African Development Bank Group are partnering on an ambitious effort to provide at least 300 million people in Africa with electricity access by 2030. The World Bank Group will work to connect 250 million people...Read More

World Bank and UN Collaborate on Report Assessing Gaza's Infrastructure Damage

The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank and the United Nations, with financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022...Read More

Innovative Strategies: KeyBank's Influence on Fintech-driven Product Development

The bank is launching KeyVAM, a virtual account management offering it designed with fintech Qolo. Both companies said the nature of the relationship was as important as the technology it produced...Read More

Regulators push Citi to move faster on risk management fixes:

Citi received three notices late last year from the Federal Reserve, which implemented six-month and 12-month deadlines by which the bank must make changes to the way it measures particular risks, according to the story, which cited an email and an anonymous source. The $2.4 trillion-asset bank also recently failed exams by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the report said. Those exams were meant to determine whether the company is advancing on data integrity....Read More

20 banks and thrifts with the largest home equity loan portfolios

The top five banks and thrifts in the ranking have combined home equity loan portfolios of nearly $96 billion as of September 30, 2023. Several increased their home equity loans over the previous year, with one seeing a rise of 115.33%. Scroll through to see which banks and thrifts are in the top 20 and how they fared in the 12 months....Read More

Bank earnings to shine spotlight on loan charge-offs

Credit quality proved pristine through the pandemic's aftermath and into this year. Soured loans were rare, and losses held below historical averages for most of this decade. That is changing. Loan charge-offs are beginning to accumulate. More losses are expected, bringing the health of loan portfolios into focus just ahead of third-quarter earnings season in October......Read More

20 community banks with the largest farm loan portfolios

The top five community banks in our ranking have combined farm loan portfolios of more than $1.2 billion as of March 31, 2023. Several also increased their farm loans over the previous year, with one seeing a rise of more than 33.83%. Scroll through to see which community banks are in the top 20 and how they fared in the 12 months ending...Read More

Banks may gain deposits amid debt-limit talks. But what happens next?

The debt ceiling impasse is adding another layer of volatility to an already unstable funding situation at U.S. banks, and there are no signs that it will ease up in the near future. Over the next week or so, the deadlock threatens to upend financial markets and incite widespread chaos if a deal isn't reached before the U.S. Treasury runs out of cash, which administration officials estimate could happen......Read More

Comerica bolsters its capital markets business by adding M&A arm

Comerica has formed a national investment banking unit within its capital markets business, expanding the number of products and services available to its commercial and wealth management clients. Comerica Securities, a subsidiary of the Dallas-based parent company, will provide merger-and-acquisition services as well as private placement advisory services, the firm said......Read More

Debt investors losing millions on Libor switch start to fight back

The request from Allied Universal to its lenders last month seemed innocuous and logical enough. With the deadline rapidly approaching to phase out Libor as the benchmark for trillions of dollars of floating-rate debt, the provider of security guards and janitors wanted to start using a replacement to set the rate on more than $4 billion of loans. Under the terms of its credit agreement, the company didn't even need its debtholders to formally sign off on the plan — it just needed more than half of them to refrain from objecting.....Read More

Bankers to see bonuses plunge amid drop in mergers, stock sales

Bonus season is looking grim on Wall Street, with year-end incentive pools expected to drop sharply across the finance industry amid a pullback in mergers and acquisitions, persistent inflation and the threat of a potential recession.....Read More

Bank OZK gets a boost from falling loan repayments

Bank OZK in Little Rock, Arkansas, had predicted that loan paydowns could hit a record level in 2022, hampering growth even as the company expands its national customer base. Conditions changed in the third quarter. The $26.2 billion-asset bank, whose bread-and-butter business is commercial real estate lending, struggled to grow its loan portfolio in the first half of the year........Read More

Fall legislative preview: Risk and reward ahead for banks in runup to midterms

 It's been a historically busy session for Congress, but lawmakers may not be quite done yet as the nation barrels towards a midterm election.  Today's legislative landscape is a far cry from the winter of 2021, when it had appeared that the legislative core of the Biden administration's agenda — the Build Back Better Act — had been scrapped over differences between moderate and progressive Democrats.....Read More

Why businesses are growing frustrated with the service at their bank

Small and midsize businesses are increasingly frustrated with the quality of service they’re receiving from their banks, which are struggling with the effects of high employee turnover. Among business clients that recently switched banks, 44% said that a primary reason was dissatisfaction with an employee assigned to their accounts, according to a survey conducted in May and June.......Read More

Joe Biden Is Right, Inflation Is a Global Problem as Europe Sees Record Price Spike

Joe Biden got one thing right about soaring inflation: it’s not just a U.S. phenomenon. On Friday, European economic data showed prices rose in June at an annual rate of 8.6%, a record, and a level identical to that seen last month in the U.S. The news comes as the European Central Bank, which has lagged the Federal Reserve in tightening monetary policy, is poised to raise interest rates......Read More

7 Best Stagflation Stocks to Buy

In May, the U.S. consumer price index gained 8.6%, its highest inflation growth reading since 1981. The S&P 500 has been pressured in recent weeks as investors grow increasingly concerned that the Federal Reserve will be unable to get inflation in check without triggering a U.S. recession.....Read More

How Do Conflicts and War Affect Stocks?

Escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine came to a head early Feb. 24 when Russia launched a deadly invasion into its neighboring nation, with explosions and missile strikes in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv and several other cities. The potential for Russian military aggression in Ukraine has been weighing on global financial markets for weeks. The military assault triggered a sharp sell-off in the S&P 500 and pushed the Nasdaq briefly into bear market territory before both stock....Read More

Will the Stock Market Crash Again? 10 Risk Factors

The S&P 500 is on a seven-month winning streak and hasn't had even one 5% pullback so far in 2021. The stock market is showing signs of weakness so far in September, however, including stringing together five consecutive down days. The S&P 500 more than doubled after its March 2020 lows in less than a year and a half, but there are several factors suggesting that the next market crash could be just.....Read More

8 Financial Stocks to Buy As Interest Rates Rise

Over the past six months, 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yields have nearly doubled. Although they remain historically low, a growing number of investors and analysts now believe inflation will push interest rates even higher in 2021 following more than $6 trillion in U.S. stimulus spending. Rising interest rates are good news for bank stocks because higher rates create an opportunity for net interest margin.....Read More

Fintech firm Klarna is raising $1 billion at a $31 billion valuation, sources say

Klarna is close to finalizing a $1 billion funding round that would give the Swedish fintech company a valuation of $31 billion, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The Stockholm-based firm is one of the world’s largest providers of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) services, which allow shoppers to spread out the cost of their purchases over a period of interest-free installments........Read More

Strategas’ Chris Verrone says banks will lead in 2021

Chris Verrone, Strategas, on where the banks are headed in 2021. With CNBC’s Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Guy Adami, Tim Seymour, Dan Nathan and Jeff Mills.

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Tired of Trump, Deutsche Bank games ways to sever ties with the president

Deutsche Bank AG is looking for ways to end its relationship with President Donald Trump after the U.S. elections, as it tires of the negative publicity stemming from the ties, according to three senior bank officials with direct knowledge of the matter......Read More

US red-flag 44 Indian banks for transactions of $1 billion: High-risk of money laundering and financial crimes

A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is a document that financial institutions, and those associated with their business, must file with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) whenever there is a suspected case of money laundering or fraud. SARS was designed to be the centerpiece of a new approach,,,,,,,,,Read More

UDR to Participate in Bank of America Securities 2020 Virtual Global Real Estate Conference

UDR, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE: UDR), a leading multifamily real estate investment trust, today announced that the Company will participate in the Bank of America Securities 2020 Global Real Estate Conference being held virtually on September 15-17, 2020. The UDR Executive Team will host a roundtable discussion.....Read More

Bank of America pledges $1 billion to address racial, economic inequality

Bank of America Corp on Tuesday pledged $1 billion to help communities across the country address economic and racial inequality, the first big bank to vow monetary support following violent protests after the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of police in.....Read More