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<ul><li>Axis Bank has launched an ultra-premium credit card for UHNIs.</li><li>The <keyword id="23066078" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Axis-Bank-Primus-credit-card" source="keywords">Axis Bank Primus credit card</keyword> is among the most expensive credit cards in India.</li><li>Here’s everything you need to know about the ultra-premium credit card from Axis Bank.</li></ul>Credit cards have become a major part of India’s financial landscape in recent years. What was once seen as a luxury for the wealthy has now become more common with banks offering various benefits including <keyword id="19957380" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lounge-access" source="keywords">lounge access</keyword> at airports, free tickets and more. Cards range from free cards for normal users to cards with thousands or lakhs in fees, aimed at high net worth (HNI) individuals. Axis Bank recently introduced Primus, the company’s ultra-premium credit card that is aimed at ultra-high net-worth individuals. <h2><keyword id="23066081" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Axis-Bank-Primus" source="Orion">Axis Bank Primus</keyword> credit card <keyword id="23066080" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="annual-fee" source="keywords">annual fee</keyword></h2>The Axis Bank Primus credit card has a joining fee of ₹5 lakh, which increases up to ₹5.9 lakh when we include GST. In addition to this, the card has an annual fee of ₹3 lakh, which goes up to ₹3.54 lakh after including GST. This makes it the <keyword id="23066079" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="most-expensive-credit-card" source="keywords">most expensive credit card</keyword> in India, beating the Amex Centurion, which has a joining fee of ₹8.26 lakh and an annual fee of ₹2.95 lakh. <h2>Axis Bank Primus credit card benefits</h2><h3>Joining benefit</h3>As part of a joining bonus, users get the option to choose from either an ₹40,000 voucher from ITC or 25,000 Axis Edge Miles. <h3>Renewal benefit</h3>Users who pay the renewal fee get either an ₹20,000 voucher from ITC or 15,000 Axis Edge Miles. <h3>Lounge benefits</h3> Unlimited domestic and international lounge access for the primary card and add-on card holders. <h3>Travel benefits</h3> <ul><li>The card offers the following travel benefits: </li><li>Zero forex markup </li><li>Unlimited complimentary domestic airport meet and greets </li><li>Complimentary companion airfare </li><li>Up to 15% savings on international First and Business class fares </li><li>Complimentary upgrades at selected hotels across the world </li><li>Exclusive access to top restaurants across the world </li><li>Access to exclusive events and bespoke travel itineraries </li></ul><h3>Golf</h3> <ul><li>Four complimentary green fees at participating clubs for the primary cardholder at international courses. </li><li>Unlimited golf access via complimentary green fee and buggy in India. </li></ul><h3>Partners for miles transfer</h3>Air Asia, Air Canada, Air France – KLM, Air India, Air Vistara, Accor, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, IHG Hotels &amp; Resorts, ITC, Japan Airlines, Marriott International Qantas Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, SpiceJet, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines and Wyndham Hotels &amp; Resorts. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/fada-urges-banks-to-tighten-funding-to-dealers-as-rains-play-spoilsport-in-august/articleshow/113111945.cms">FADA urges banks to tighten funding to dealers as rains play spoilsport in August</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/india-beats-the-us-to-emerge-as-the-second-biggest-market-for-5g-smartphones/articleshow/113095322.cms">India beats the US to emerge as the second-biggest market for 5G smartphones</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/apple-iphone-16-to-launch-on-september-9-design-specs-and-everything-we-know-so-far/articleshow/113091114.cms">Apple iPhone 16 to launch on September 9 – design, specs and everything we know so far</a>

Here are the benefits you get with India’s most expensive credit card with a ₹3.54 lakh annual fee

The festive season is here and with it, you are likely to make several purchases from e-commerce platforms, be it for yourself or for your friends and family. Choosing the right credit card for <keyword id="19957108" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-shopping" source="keywords">online shopping</keyword> can make a significant difference in how much you save and earn from your purchases. <keyword id="19953671" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="credit-cards" source="keywords">Credit cards</keyword> not only allow you to easily get products on credit, they can also make them cheaper thanks to cashback and reward points. You also get access to airport lounges, railway lounges, dining offers and more. In this post, we look at some of the <keyword id="23600028" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="best-credit-cards-for-online-shopping" source="Orion">best credit cards for online shopping</keyword> in India. <h2><keyword id="3294523" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="best-credit-cards" source="Orion">Best credit cards</keyword> for online shopping in India</h2><h3><keyword id="23600026" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Pay-ICICI" source="keywords">Amazon Pay ICICI</keyword> credit card</h3> <div type="image" title="Amazon Pay ICICI credit card" msid="114354421" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Amazon Pay ICICI credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Amazon Pay ICICI Credit card is among the most popular co-branded credit cards, offered by ICICI Bank in partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon India. It’s great for those who regularly shop on Amazon, as it offers a 5% cashback on all purchases on the platform. Key Features: <ul><li>Cashback: Up to 5% cashback on Amazon purchases, and 2% cashback on other online shopping.</li><li>Additional cashback: Earn 2% cashback at partner stores, and 1% on all other spends.</li><li>No annual fee: Lifetime free credit card.</li><li>Fuel surcharge waiver: 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps.</li></ul> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113123752" title="Here are the benefits you get with India’s most expensive credit card with a ₹3.54 lakh annual fee" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> <h3>HDFC Millenia credit card</h3> <div type="image" title="HDFC Millenia credit card" msid="114354433" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;HDFC Millenia credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The HDFC Millenia is a popular credit card from HDFC Bank and is among the most sought-after cards from the bank. This card offers good rewards on Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and other online platforms. It is also good for utility bills and fuel spending. Key Features: <ul><li>Cashback: 5% cashback on Amazon, BookMyShow, Swiggy, Flipkart, Myntra and more. It offers 1% cashback on all other spends.</li><li>Lounge access: 1 complimentary lounge access per quarter.</li><li>Fuel surcharge waiver: 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps.</li></ul><h3>Flipkart Axis Bank credit card</h3> <div type="image" title="Flipkart Axis Bank credit card" msid="114354438" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Flipkart Axis Bank credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> With Amazon partnering with ICICI Bank, Flipkart joined the race and partnered with Axis Bank to launch the Flipkart Axis Bank credit card. The card offers 5% cashback on Flipkart and Cleartrip. Key Features: <ul><li>Cashback: 5% cashback on Flipkart and Cleartrip, 4% on preferred partners and 1% on other spends. </li><li>Lounge access: 4 complimentary lounge access per year on spending ₹50,000 during the previous 3 months.</li><li>Fuel surcharge waiver: 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps.</li></ul> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="98090488" title="How to use credit card to make UPI payments" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> <h3>Cashback SBI Card</h3> <div type="image" title="Cashback SBI credit card" msid="114354449" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Cashback SBI credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Cashback SBI Card has quickly emerged as one of the most popular cards from the state-owned bank, beating its SimplyClick card, which was one of the preferred cards for online spending. The USP of this card is that it offers a flat 5% cashback on all online spending. Key Features: <ul><li>Cashback: 5% cashback on all online spends, without any merchant restrictions. It also offers 1% cashback on all offline transactions.</li><li>Fuel surcharge waiver: 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps.</li><li>Annual fee waiver: Fee waiver on spending ₹2 lakh in the preceding year.</li></ul><h3><keyword id="23600027" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Axis-Bank-Ace" source="keywords">Axis Bank Ace</keyword> credit card</h3> <div type="image" title="Axis Bank Ace credit card" msid="114354458" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Axis Bank Ace credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Axis Bank Ace credit card is another excellent card, especially for those looking for a card for bill payments, utility spending and more. It is also one of the few credit cards that can be added to Google Pay. Key Features: <ul><li>Cashback: 5% cashback on all bill payments, mobile recharges and DTH recharges via Google Pay. It also offers 4% Swiggy, Zomato and Ola.</li><li>Lounge access: 4 complimentary lounge access per year on spending ₹50,000 during the previous 3 months.</li><li>Fuel surcharge waiver: 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps.</li></ul> <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="102133212" title="HDFC Bank and Swiggy launch co-branded credit card – cashback, offers and more" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> <h3>American Express SmartEarn credit card</h3> <div type="image" title="American Express SmartEarn credit card" msid="114354467" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;American Express SmartEarn credit card&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> While it is more challenging to get American Express cards than other cards on the list, getting your hands on the SmartEarn credit card is relatively easy compared to other cards offered by American Express. Key Features: <ul><li>Reward points: 10X membership reward points on Flipkart, Zomato, Myntra, Uber, Ajio and more. 5X membership reward points on every ₹50 spent on Amazon.</li><li>Monthly spends: Earn 500 membership reward points on spending ₹2,500 in a month on 10X reward point partners.</li><li>Annual fee waiver: Fee waiver on spending ₹40,000 in the preceding year.</li></ul>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/here-are-the-benefits-you-get-with-indias-most-expensive-credit-card-with-a-3-54-lakh-annual-fee/articleshow/113123752.cms">Here are the benefits you get with India’s most expensive credit card with a ₹3.54 lakh annual fee</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bigger-they-are-harder-they-fall-a-look-at-how-the-countrys-biggest-ipos-have-fared/articleshow/114307997.cms">Bigger they are, harder they fall – A look at how the country’s biggest IPOs have fared</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/hdfc-bank-and-swiggy-launch-co-branded-credit-card-to-offer-discount-to-customers/articleshow/102133212.cms">HDFC Bank and Swiggy launch co-branded credit card – cashback, offers and more</a>

Best credit cards for online shopping this festive season

In a significant move, the <keyword id="19899810" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reserve-bank-of-india" source="keywords">Reserve Bank of India</keyword> (<keyword id="19899808" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="rbi" source="keywords">RBI</keyword>) has imposed penalties on <keyword id="19952948" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="axis-bank" source="keywords">Axis Bank</keyword> and <keyword id="19895995" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hdfc-bank" source="keywords">HDFC Bank</keyword> for lapses in regulatory and statutory compliance. The fines, which amount to a total of ₹2.91 crore, highlight the central bank's ongoing efforts to ensure that financial institutions adhere to prescribed guidelines. The RBI levied a penalty of ₹1.91 crore on Axis Bank for violations that included contraventions of the <keyword id="19976511" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="banking-regulation-act" source="keywords">Banking Regulation Act</keyword> and non-compliance with specific RBI directions related to interest rates on deposits, Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, and collateral-free loans for agriculture. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank faced a ₹1 crore fine for failing to comply with directions concerning interest rates, customer service practices, and the use of recovery agents. <h2>Axis Bank: Key regulatory failures</h2>Axis Bank’s penalty stems from a supervisory evaluation conducted by the RBI based on its financial position as of March 31, 2023. Upon reviewing the bank’s activities, the RBI found several areas of non-compliance. One of the primary issues was the opening of savings deposit accounts in the names of ineligible entities, a direct violation of regulatory norms. Additionally, Axis Bank was found to have issued multiple customer identification codes to certain clients instead of assigning a Unique Customer Identification Code (UCIC), which is mandatory to avoid duplication and ensure proper monitoring of accounts. The bank also violated guidelines concerning agricultural loans. RBI regulations prohibit banks from asking for collateral for agricultural loans up to ₹1.60 lakh, but Axis Bank had obtained such collateral in certain cases. Lastly, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axis Bank was found to be engaged in providing technology services—an activity that is not permissible for a banking company. This contravention added to the overall penalty levied by the central bank. <h2>HDFC Bank: Regulatory shortcomings</h2> In the case of HDFC Bank, the RBI’s investigation was based on its financial position as of March 31, 2022. The central bank uncovered several violations, including the offering of gifts, specifically covering the first-year premium for complimentary life insurance, which exceeded the permissible limit of ₹250. Moreover, HDFC Bank was found to have opened savings accounts in the names of ineligible entities, a violation similar to that of Axis Bank. Another significant failure was the bank’s inability to ensure that customers were not contacted by bank officials outside the permitted time frame of 7 am to 7 pm. <h2>RBI's Stance on Compliance</h2> While the RBI has been stringent in penalising both banks, it clarified that these penalties are based on lapses in regulatory compliance and are not reflective of the validity of any transactions or agreements between the banks and their customers. The central bank’s message is clear—financial institutions must adhere strictly to guidelines to maintain transparency, protect customers, and uphold the integrity of the banking system. The penalties serve as a reminder to all banks to stay vigilant and maintain high standards of compliance to avoid such financial and reputational damage in the future. Both Axis Bank and HDFC Bank have accepted the fines and are expected to take corrective actions to avoid future infractions. For customers, this action from the RBI is a reassurance that regulatory oversight remains a priority to ensure fair banking practices across the country.

RBI slaps fine of Rs 2.91 crore on Axis Bank and HDFC Bank: All details

In March 2023, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser anointed Anand Selva, as the bank's chief operating officer. His mandate: oversee a deeply unsexy yet crucial initiative to regain compliance with regulators. At the time, she praised his "long track record of delivering results."So far, Selva's tenure has been rocky.In July, two regulators <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-jane-fraser-regulatory-citigroup-transformation-2024-7">fined Citi $135.6 million</a> for failing to make enough progress in fixing its data-management issues. The bank had agreed in 2020 to work on this problem and others, including poor risk controls, after <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/citigroup-slammed-400-mln-fine-longstanding-deficiencies-regulation-occ-fed-2020-10-1029660295">paying $400 million</a> in fines to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC said in July that the bank had made "meaningful progress overall" but that the agency wanted to ensure Citi allocated enough resources to address the "persistent weaknesses" regarding data.These new fines are despite Citi dedicating massive resources to a firmwide initiative to overhaul the bank's technology. This program, called the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-transformation-citigroup-regulatory-fine-anand-selvakesari-2024-7">"Transformation"</a> and overseen by Selva, has about 13,000 employees. Citi spent $7.4 billion on the endeavor from 2021 through 2023. This year's budget has been increased by $250 million, to more than $3 billion.The pressure is on, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren urging the OCC to "impose growth restrictions" on Citi, arguing that it has grown "too big to manage." The regulator and Citi declined to comment."We've always said that progress wouldn't be linear," Fraser said after the latest fines, "and we have no doubt that we will be successful in getting our firm where it needs to be in terms of our Transformation."For Selva, leading the Transformation is unlike any test he has faced in his three-decade career at Citi. Selva, who goes by the shortened version of his last name, Selvakesari, joined Citi as an assistant operations manager in Chennai, India, in 1991. He rose through the ranks in Asia before taking over the US consumer bank in 2019. When Fraser was made CEO in 2021, she chose Selva, who's now 57, to replace her as the global head of consumer banking.In his current role, his mandate is to make the bank safer, not to turn a profit. To do so, he has to solve for Citi's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-real-reasons-behind-citi-mike-corbat-early-retirement-2020-9">decades of underinvestment</a> in its infrastructure, which affects every business line of the bank.Business Insider talked to 14 current and former Citi employees who have worked under Selva to get a picture of the challenge facing him and why he was put in charge of the bank's No. 1 priority. All but two spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal or the sensitivity of regulatory matters. Three senior executives pointed to his experience navigating regulation and working with technology from running Citi's consumer bank. Gonzalo Luchetti, Selva's successor as the head of the US consumer business, told BI that serving 70 million customers required handling tremendous operational risk."If we mess it up, usually you don't mess it up for one; you mess it up for hundreds of thousands, if not millions," he said. "You have to be super good at process orientation and making sure that there's high discipline and rigor."Luchetti also emphasized Selva's longevity at Citi and experience across regions."He knows the fabric of the firm very well," Luchetti said. "The Transformation is about really repiping the machine. He's touched a lot of the machine himself."But touching the machine isn't the same as fixing it. Eight employees told BI that they were surprised that Selva was made the head of the Transformation given that he had never held a leadership role in technology or compliance. They described Citi's culture as a cliquey environment that rewards managing up over results, noting that the COO promotion followed dismal performance for the wealth unit he oversaw."The biggest job was given to a guy who with 1 ½ years in wealth wasn't able to do anything," a former managing director said.Selva has also come under scrutiny for a lawsuit filed against him and the bank by an ex-Transformation executive in May. Kathleen Martin, a former interim data chair, alleged that Selva pressured her to hide information from the OCC that would make Citi "look bad" and that she was fired in September 2023 after multiple refusals. Citi denied the accusations and filed a counterclaim in late August, alleging that Martin was fired for underperformance. Citi has recently made leadership changes to Selva's unit. The bank tapped its new tech head, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-data-tim-ryan-anand-selva-memo-transformation-regulators-2024-9">Tim Ryan</a>, to lead the data effort alongside Selva and take over management of the 800-employee data team. The work on data, along with risks and controls, is paramount to the Transformation.Splitting the burden may expedite the massive task, which requires coordinating work from employees across the entire bank. Citi declined to specify a timeline, citing the confidential nature of regulatory matters. A managing director in the Transformation estimated that the work required would take about two decades.Mike Mayo, a Wells Fargo analyst, said that until Citi meets the requirements of the OCC and the Federal Reserve, the bank is in "regulatory purgatory.""Citi has thrown over 10,000 people and $3 billion and more at this problem," Mayo told BI in July. "They just have to get it done."Selva does have a long track record at Citi. Born in Madurai, a large city in southern India, he studied engineering and played basketball at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. He earned his master's in business administration at Madurai Kamaraj University before joining Citi in 1991.Selva made his name at Citi by shaping its consumer-bank businesses across Asia. He led retail banking in China and India before taking over the Asia Pacific market in 2015. His approach was digital-first, eschewing branches for banking apps. Despite closing 60% of bank branches in Asia from 2016 through 2018, Selva grew deposits by 10%.<div type="image" title="Citi's Anand Selva speaking at a panel, seated and wearing a pinstripe suit and a red tie." height="3307" width="4960" msid="114093573" hostid="261" sizebytes="2310830"></div>"He's very tech and digital-oriented," Luchetti said. "We've been to China together to look at startups and firms that were disrupting the world. He was always very connected with learning more about technology, had that curiosity, and then the execution chops to get it done here."In 2019, Selva moved from Singapore to New York, where he now lives with his family, to run the US consumer bank. He assumed the global consumer-banking business from Fraser in 2021. Selva leaned on credit-card and lending offerings, launching products like Citi Custom Cash which allowed customers to pick their reward categories, and Flex Pay, a buy-now, pay-later service. Under Selva, Citi was the No. 2 issuer of credit cards in the US, and deposits grew by more than a third, to about $220 billion.In 2021, Citi started divesting itself of more than a dozen consumer-bank markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Selva was an important player on both sides of the table, according to Adora Tidalgo, the head of operational risk management at Citi. She said he helped find Asian acquirers that maximized value for Citi while keeping the businesses running smoothly with low attrition."That skill of balancing how much you want to bring in terms of revenue and the credit loss you want to take is really a skill that very much needs to be honed in the consumer space," she said. "That balancing, to me, I have seen Anand over the year been very successful in doing that."There have been some bumps in the road. As part of Fraser's reorganization of the bank in 2021, Selva gained oversight of a newly formed wealth unit and its new leader, Jim O'Donnell. Six current and former managing directors told BI that Selva's approach focused more on scale and digital offerings than high-touch client service. For instance, he didn't approve loans that failed to meet a certain threshold of return, even if it meant losing an important client, two former managing directors said."The way that every private banker on earth thinks about relationships is you need to invest in relationships, and then as you start to do more business with clients, you start getting more and more valuable opportunities with them," one of the former managing directors said. "You have to look at the relationship. You can't just look at every single transaction."Employees argued that Selva's playbook may have worked to build scale in Asia but not to satisfy well-heeled — and much more sought-after — US clients."I think Anand's decisions were comparing everything to what he knew from his time in Asia, and they are completely different markets," another former managing director said. "In Asia, Citi has a very recognizable brand, and people actually want to bank with Citi. You don't have to sell it that hard."<div type="image" title="Citi CEO Jane Fraser testifying at Congress" height="3828" width="5846" msid="114093582" hostid="261" sizebytes="314760"></div>The wealth business' revenue dropped by 6% year over year at the end of 2022. Fraser called the division's performance "disappointing." O'Donnell's reign over wealth was cut short in January 2023, and it was later placed under <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-sieg-citi-wealth-management-ceo-2024-6">Andy Sieg</a>, the former head of Merrill Wealth Management. With Citi on a campaign to divest itself of 14 international consumer-bank markets, Selva's remit shrank.His appointment as COO thrust him into the spotlight. Tidalgo told BI that he was no stranger to the task of dealing with regulators."When you are the head of a country, you are the face of Citi to the regulators. Good, bad, or indifferent, you have to face them," she said. "That's part of the job."Citi's Transformation and its challenges predate Selva's appointment as COO. It existed as a firmwide initiative before the October 2020 fines but was kicked into overdrive after Citi entered consent orders with the OCC and the Federal Reserve.It can be viewed as two parts. The most visible is the strategy to simplify and modernize the bank, such as divesting Asian consumer businesses, removing five layers of management, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-reorganization-layoffs-management-overhaul-reorganization-jane-fraser-stock-price-2023-9">reorganizing</a> so that the five business lines report directly to Fraser.The second part is meant to address the 2020 consent orders. The initiative is separated into seven programs, including finance, compliance, and risk and controls. While some 13,000 employees are dedicated to the Transformation, much of this work is carried out by employees across the bank. Selva sits at the center, coordinating these efforts. He's in a tough position, as much of the Transformation's work is executed by employees in other divisions."The challenge with the Transformation role is you are accountable yet not responsible," the managing director in the Transformation said. "The role is really coordinating and getting others to do what they need to do, which is very different from running a business where the entire team follows your lead, you own it, you have the ability to actually get them to do this stuff."When everyone is accountable, effectively no one is, a former senior vice president in the Transformation said. Matters got stuck in bureaucracy, bouncing from one department to another and being debated in committee for months.A senior executive in the Transformation acknowledged that the programs often rely on each other's work. For example, a delay in data work can lead to one for a finance project."When we are asked sometimes why it is challenging to execute on the Transformation, one of the challenges is the interconnectivity of those seven works," she said.The senior executive said the Transformation's successes had been overlooked, partly because the bank is limited in what it can say on regulatory matters. For instance, Citi has retired or replaced a quarter of its applications, halfway to its overall goal. The bank declined to specify the number of existing or terminated applications, but as of July, it had retired nearly 300 applications this year. The senior executive also touted the bank's streamlining its risk-management workflow.But the Transformation has earned a middling grade from Citi itself. The bank evaluates the initiative's success for the purposes of a bonus program applicable to about 200 senior employees, including Selva. In 2022, an internal committee gave it a score of 94%, citing targets it met, such as submitting remediation plans to regulators.For 2023, the score sank to 80%, calculated by measuring the timeliness of executing scheduled work, the percentage of work deemed complete by the bank's internal auditors, and a "qualitative consideration of Citi's cultural change" derived from the bank's employee surveys.<div type="image" title="Headshot of Citi's new tech head Tim Ryan, smiling and wearing a black suit jacket with a light blue shirt" height="739" width="985" msid="114093578" hostid="261" sizebytes="32120"></div>Bringing in Ryan, the bank's head of technology and business enablement, to help the bank catch up makes sense. The recruiter Phil Waxelbaum argued that a more traditional candidate to help lead the Transformation would be a seasoned, high-ranking person from a regulatory agency. But someone with a nonbanking background such as consulting or technology can work, too, according to recruiter Jeffrey Warren. Ryan joined Citi in June after seven years leading the US business of PricewaterhouseCoopers."In situations like this when you are looking to drive transformation, you need someone who can work at the intersection of people, processes, and technology," said Warren, managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates. "That includes working from within and likely driving some change with new people who have experience in new technologies or new ways of doing things."Ryan is now sharing data, a significant component of the Transformation, with Selva. Another PwC alum, Citi's head of enterprise risk management, Ashutosh Nawani, will take over the chief data office from one of Selva's lieutenants, Japan Mehta, and report to Ryan. Mehta will move to another role that the bank declined to specify.Employees told BI that they thought bringing in Ryan and Nawani would help."Sure, there might be some reservation that more consultants are coming in to run Citi, but there is a positive vibe of changing senior leadership," the former senior vice president in the Transformation said. "Legacy Citi culture is what got us into this spot in the first place."While the July fines did not meaningfully move Citi's stock, they have placed the bank and the Transformation under greater scrutiny. The OCC has ordered Citi to provide a resource-review plan each quarter to ensure the bank is providing enough resources for the effort. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also required the bank to address the Transformation's progress in future filings.The outstanding issues have also impeded Citi from expanding in China. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-23/citigroup-s-china-expansion-plan-put-on-hold-by-us-regulators">Bloomberg</a>, the bank is still waiting on a clearance letter from the Federal Reserve to set up a securities office. The bank declined to comment on the process but said it was "fully committed to supporting clients" in China.<div type="image" title="Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at a hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2024." height="1333" width="2000" msid="114093583" hostid="261" sizebytes="96482"></div>Regulators placing an asset cap on Citi, as Senator Warren has requested, isn't out of the realm of possibility, said Timothy Coffey, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott."At what point do the regulators just get fed up with Citi's inability to adequately resolve these issues or stick to the timeline that they've laid out?" he said. "That's an open-ended question."But the consent orders and the lack of progress are distractions in themselves. When Fraser took over Citi nearly four years ago, she said the Transformation was her No. 1 priority and asked for patience. Now her requests for time are wearing thin. Regardless of who leads the Transformation, Fraser is still accountable."This stays out here in terms of headline risk, and I think it puts a cap on the valuation that Citi can achieve," said Stephen Biggar, an Argus Research analyst. "It's an overhang on the stock. It's an overhang on the reputation of Fraser."Do you work for Citi? Have a tip or story to share? Reach out to Hayley Cuccinello at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:hcuccinello@businessinsider.com">hcuccinello@businessinsider.com</a> or 917 740 5340, which works for calls, text, and the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Meet the executive tasked with Citi's hardest challenge: getting the bank's house in order

Imagine this. You have a younger sibling you’re mighty envious of. And why not? Unlike you, they seem to enjoy all the freedom and money in the world. They party like there’s no tomorrow, and here you are, stuck in a boring, ultra-disciplined but responsible routine that feels completely devoid of any independence, and mostly, funds. But of late, things are changing. This sibling is in massive trouble and just cannot escape the parent’s wrath anymore. Long story short, the party is over, and it is time to go back home. The rising defaults on this sibling’s part have now begun pulling the entire house down, thereby attracting the regulator’s ire. <h2>The Wild West of microfinance and unsecured loans</h2>It's hard to ignore the issues with microfinance and unsecured loans in India. Many saw them as a small gamble and ignored the rising defaults much like the younger siblings’ tantrums, and now they find themselves in hot waters. The skyrocketing instances of non-payments aren't a micro-issue anymore and are threatening the stability of the entire banking system. In the quarter ended September 30, 2024, 5 of India’s 8 largest private sector <keyword id="19934118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="banks" source="keywords">banks</keyword> reported a steep rise in their bad loan book, mostly thanks to microfinance loans. Some banks, in a bid to strengthen their fortress against these <keyword id="142154" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bad-loans" source="Orion">bad loans</keyword>, have significantly upped their provisions. For instance, <keyword id="46717" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IndusInd-bank" source="Orion">IndusInd Bank</keyword> set aside Rs 525 crore during July and September 2024 to battle the menace of defaults on microfinance loans, which make up about 9% of its total loan book. See, banks rely heavily on their interest income, which they earn from advancing loans. Any loan where the borrower has not paid interest to the bank or defaulted for 90 days or more becomes bad, i.e., an <keyword id="79363" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="npa" source="Orion">NPA</keyword>, or non-performing asset for the bank. And who likes things going bad? Simply put, there has been a steep rise in three areas, much to the dislike of banks and MFIs (micro-finance institutions). But hey, it's mostly their doing! <ol><li>GNPA ratio (gross net performing assets): The quantum of non-performing assets a bank has in proportion to its total assets.</li><li>Provision: The amount banks set aside to take care of such NPAs.</li><li>Slippage ratio: The rate at which good girls go bad, or the speed at which good loans turn into NPAs</li></ol>But how are these plaguing the Indian banking sector? And what does the road ahead look like? We decode it for you. <h2> Microfinance: A not-so-micro-menace</h2>Microfinance loans were initially brought forth for low-income households and individuals, i.e. for those who might not generally have access to traditional ways of credit, like bank loans and more. They don’t require collateral or an asset to be pledged in lieu of the loan, making it a tad bit easier for borrowers. As of June 2024, the amount of outstanding loans in the microfinance industry stood at a staggering Rs 4,20,256 crore. Of this, NBFC-MFIs accounted for 40% and banks made for 33% of these. In 2022, <keyword id="30067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI" source="Orion">RBI</keyword>, in a bid to inspire some competition in this space, did something radical-they did away with the ceiling on how much interest MFIs could charge their customers. Previously, MFIs could add up to 12% to their cost of acquiring funds to determine the final interest rate chargeable to the consumer. So, assuming that Bank A incurs a 5% cost to acquire funds for further loaning, A could charge up to 17% interest from the end consumer. So, interest rates were in the hands of MFIs, and boy, did they have a gala time with it. Instead of spurring some healthy competition, as RBI expected, MFIs and banks went rogue and all guns blazing, competing for the title of “Who will charge the highest interest?” Recently, RBI banned 4 microfinance institutions (MFIs), namely Asirvad Micro Finance Limited, Arohan Financial Services Limited, DMI Finance Private Limited, and Navi Finserv, from disbursing loans effective October 21, 2024. Why? Because they were charging 14% extra interest over their original cost of funds. To maintain their loan books (and pockets), banks and NBFCs resorted to shady practices like netting off loans, which RBI has now advised MFIs against. Here, lenders allow borrowers to settle a previous outstanding loan by issuing them a new loan! As crazy as it sounds, it helped banks to report less of their total assets as NPAs, since the new credit would cover pending installments of the borrower’s previous loan. Then there was the issue of borrowers overleveraging, i.e. taking multiple loans using different IDs from various lenders and then failing to honor any of them. The consequence? Banks and NBFCs end up with massive NPAs. Data from credit bureaus suggests that over the last quarter, there was a 17.2% rise in the number of borrowers who had 5 or more active loans at the same time. <h2>Growth &gt; Caution</h2>It's an age-old tale unfolding yet again in India’s banking sector- Icarus flew too close to the sun and eventually, fell to its death. Between April and June 2024, NBFCs microfinance portfolio jumped by 2.7%. If you see this in terms of loan sources, microfinance loans issued by banks grew by 11.2% in Q1FY25. But the same portfolio in NBFCs swelled by almost double-23.9%. While most of these loans had an average ticket size between Rs 30,000-50,000, there was a sharp spike in the number of loans that had a ticket size of Rs 80,000 or more. Data suggests that as of March 2024, more than 12% of all microfinance borrowers had over 4 or more active loans. In dating parlance, this is a classic case of borrowers going polyamorous, minus the honesty and transparency. Not the best of situations, you'd agree! <h2>Will banks and NBFCs stand up to this stress?</h2>If their results for Q2FY25 are to be believed, NBFCs are not handling the pressure all that well. Or even slightly well. Only a few banks like Bank of Baroda (BoB), ICICI, and Indian Bank were up for the battle, even witnessing a decline in their loan delinquencies. Some others, like IndusInd Bank, saw their stock dip by a massive 16.2% over the last 5 days. Its slippages in the previous quarter burgeoned from Rs 15.3 billion in Q1FY25 to Rs 17.9 billion in Q2. As a result, the bank pushed a staggeringly high amount of money to create an NPA cushion for itself. While its management has highlighted its preference for secured lending, that was hardly reflected in its actions during the quarter, where growth in unsecured personal loans remained exceptionally high at over 7% on a QoQ basis. Turns out, only 44% of customers in IndusInd Banks’ microfinance loan portfolio were exclusive to it. The rest 47% were, you guessed it right-polyamorous! 27% had borrowed from another lender as well, apart from IndusInd Bank, while 20% were those who had outstanding loans with two other lenders, apart from IndusInd Bank. IndusInd Bank’s credit card segment did not miss the NPA bus and accounted for 7-8% of its GNPAs. Canara Bank’s total slippages during the previous quarter jumped to Rs 11.1 billion, up by 24.7% QoQ, and making up for 3.6% of its total loans. As for Bandhan Bank, its <keyword id="763994" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gross-NPA" source="Orion">gross NPA</keyword> for Q2FY25 inched up on a QoQ basis, up from 4.23% in Q1, to 4.68% in the second quarter. <keyword id="62152" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IDFC-bank" source="Orion">IDFC Bank</keyword>’s heavy provisioning for its NPAs marred its profits significantly, causing its PAT (profit after tax) to dip by 73% on a YoY basis. Data from ICRA Analytics suggest that the AUM (asset under management) growth in microfinance loans and unsecured (personal and business) loans by the NBFCs will moderate to 10-12% and 19-21%, respectively, in FY2025 compared to 30% and 38%, in FY2024. Says A M Karthik, Senior Vice President &amp; Co-Group Head, Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, “As bank funds constitute a larger share in the overall funding of NBFCs, a slower credit flow from banks to the NBFCs will compress their AUM growth. The NBFCs in unsecured and digital lending businesses shall face a higher squeeze in funding compared to others, and the unsecured lending space will continue to be a source of stress in the near term.” There has been uninhibited growth in unsecured loans, apart from just the microfinance segment. For instance, Axis Bank’s gross slippages jumped by Rs 4,443 crore, largely thanks to its unsecured business. The same is the case with Yes Bank, which saw 35–40% of its retail slippages emerging from the unsecured loan portfolio. Kotak Mahindra Bank was also quick to follow Yes Bank’s suit, with around 35%-40% of its slippages coming from credit cards. <h2>How is the road ahead?</h2>While RBI has just cracked its whip and served a warning at the moment, experts at Morgan Stanley believe that more changes (read regulatory lashes) are underway. Moreover, with both festive and wedding seasons underway in our country, unsecured lending might pick up momentum, much to the disdain of the calibrated approach banks have been taking towards it so far. But if the situation doesn't improve, RBI will not waste any time in becoming the typical tyrannical Bollywood headmaster who runs his dominion with an iron fist and takes things (and ceiling rates) into their own hands. However, that's a story for another day.

Is the lending party over? The dangerous tango of Indian banks with microfinance and unsecured loans

Mumbai: Indian stock markets rallied on Monday after the <keyword id="20032950" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP-led-government" source="keywords">BJP-led government</keyword> secured a majority in the latest state elections in Maharashtra. The <keyword id="20641216" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nifty-50" source="keywords">Nifty 50</keyword> index gained more than 1.45 per cent or 346.30 points to open at 24,253.55 points, while the BSE <keyword id="19896382" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sensex" source="keywords">Sensex</keyword> index surged 1,076 points or 1.36 percent to open at 80,193.47 points. Experts noted that the election results have an impact on the markets today, and if past trends are followed, the markets may witness some rally amid the return of the BJP in the Maharashtra state elections. <keyword id="20161891" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ajay-Bagga" source="keywords">Ajay Bagga</keyword> Banking and Market Expert stated that "The just concluded elections in Maharashtra, the results of which were declared on November 23rd, will have a positive immediate impact on the stock markets. The landslide win for the BJP lead coalition in the Maharashtra state elections could lead to a short-term boost to the Indian stock markets which have been in a declining mode" He further added "Investors will interpret this mandate as favourable for the capex and infrastructure push that is ongoing in Maharashtra. The beneficiary sectors of this election are industrials, infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate and financials". In the sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange, <keyword id="20065014" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nifty-Realty" source="keywords">Nifty Realty</keyword> and <keyword id="19941314" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nifty-PSU-Bank" source="keywords">Nifty PSU Bank</keyword> rallied with a surge of more than 2 percent, while other major indices also gained more than 1.5 per cent, including Nifty Metal, Nifty Media, and Nifty Oil &amp; Gas. In the Nifty 50 list, 49 stocks gained during the opening session, while only one stock declined. Shri Finance opened as the top gainer in the Nifty 50. The shares of the AdGroup also surged around 2 percent at the time of filing this report. <keyword id="19967296" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Adani-Green" source="keywords">Adani Green</keyword> also climbed around 4 percent. "We are most likely to break the falling 20-day average that lies at 24,030, which will be the first time that'd happen since the record high of 27th September. Seasonality trends between now and the end of the year have been historically positive, with the Nifty rising 80% of the time during this period with an average return of over 4 per cent" Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities. In other Asian markets, Japan and South Korea indices rallied. The Nikkei 225 index surged more than 1.5 percent, South Korea's Kospi also rose by 1.5 percent, Taiwan's Weighted Index was up by 0.48 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down marginally by 0.14 percent at the time of filing this report.

Nifty, Sensex rallied around 1.5 % after Maharashtra election results, Experts noted short term rally

<div type="image" title="The RBI has cracked the regulatory whip on NBFCs and banks, who&amp;#39;ve been pushing microfinance and unsecured loans aggressively to grow their loan books." agency="ANI" msid="114778648" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The RBI has cracked the regulatory whip on NBFCs and banks, who&amp;#39;ve been pushing microfinance and unsecured loans aggressively to grow their loan books.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Imagine this. You have a younger sibling you’re mighty envious of. And why not? Unlike you, they seem to enjoy all the freedom and money in the world. They party like there’s no tomorrow, and here you are, stuck in a boring, ultra-disciplined but responsible routine that feels completely devoid of any independence, and mostly, funds. But of late, things are changing. This sibling is in massive trouble and just cannot escape the parent’s wrath anymore. Long story short, the party is over, and it is time to go back home. The rising defaults on this sibling’s part have now begun pulling the entire house down, thereby attracting the regulator’s ire. <h2>The Wild West of <keyword id="113684" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microfinance" source="Orion">microfinance</keyword> and unsecured loans</h2>It's hard to ignore the issues with microfinance and unsecured loans in India. Many saw them as a small gamble and ignored the rising defaults much like the younger siblings’ tantrums, and now they find themselves in hot waters. The skyrocketing instances of non-payments aren't a micro-issue anymore and are threatening the stability of the entire banking system. In the quarter ended September 30, 2024, 5 of India’s 8 largest private sector <keyword id="19934118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="banks" source="keywords">banks</keyword> reported a steep rise in their bad loan book, mostly thanks to microfinance loans. Some banks, in a bid to strengthen their fortress against these <keyword id="142154" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bad-loans" source="Orion">bad loans</keyword>, have significantly upped their provisions. For instance, IndusInd Bank set aside Rs 525 crore during July and September 2024 to battle the menace of defaults on microfinance loans, which make up about 9% of its total loan book. See, banks rely heavily on their interest income, which they earn from advancing loans. Any loan where the borrower has not paid interest to the bank or defaulted for 90 days or more becomes bad, i.e. an NPA, or non-performing asset for the bank. And who likes things going bad? Simply put, there has been a steep rise in three areas, much to the dislike of banks and MFIs (micro-finance institutions). But hey, it's mostly their doing! <ol><li>GNPA ratio (gross net performing assets): The quantum of non-performing assets a bank has in proportion to its total assets.</li><li>Provision: The amount banks set aside to take care of such NPAs.</li><li>Slippage ratio: The rate at which good girls go bad, or the speed at which good loans turn into NPAs</li></ol>But how are these plaguing the Indian banking sector? And what does the road ahead look like? We decode it for you. <h2> Microfinance: A not-so-micro-menace</h2>Microfinance loans were initially brought forth for low-income households and individuals i.e. for those who might not generally have access to traditional ways of credit, like bank loans and more. They don’t require collateral or an asset to be pledged in lieu of the loan, making it a tad bit easier for borrowers. As of June 2024, the amount of outstanding loans in the microfinance industry stood at a staggering Rs 4,20,256 crore. Of this, NBFC-MFIs accounted for 40% and banks made for 33% of these. In 2022, RBI, in a bid to inspire some competition in this space, did something radical-they did away with the ceiling on how much interest MFIs could charge their customers. Previously, MFIs could add up to 12% to their cost of acquiring funds to determine the final interest rate chargeable to the consumer. So, assuming that Bank A incurs a 5% cost to acquire funds for further loaning, A could charge up to 17% interest from the end consumer. So, interest rates were in the hands of MFIs, and boy, did they have a gala time with it. Instead of spurring some healthy competition, as RBI expected, MFIs and banks went rogue and all guns blazing, competing for the title of “Who will charge the highest interest?” Recently, RBI banned 4 microfinance institutions (MFIs), namely Asirvad Micro Finance Limited, Arohan Financial Services Limited, DMI Finance Private Limited, and <keyword id="20117932" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="navi-finserv" source="keywords">Navi Finserv</keyword> from disbursing loans effective October 21, 2024. Why? Because they were charging 14% extra interest over their original cost of funds. To maintain their loan books (and pockets), banks and NBFCs resorted to shady practices like netting off loans, which RBI has now advised MFIs against. Here, lenders allow borrowers to settle a previous outstanding loan by issuing them a new loan! As crazy as it sounds, it helped banks to report less of their total assets as NPAs, since the new credit would cover pending instalments of the borrower’s previous loan. Then there was the issue of borrowers overleveraging, i.e. taking multiple loans using different IDs from various lenders and then failing to honour any of them. The consequence? Banks and NBFCs end up with massive NPAs. Data from credit bureaus suggests that over the last quarter, there was a 17.2% rise in the number of borrowers who had 5 or more active loans at the same time. <h2>Growth &gt; Caution</h2>It's an age-old tale unfolding yet again in India’s banking sector- Icarus flew too close to the sun and eventually, fell to its death. Between April and June 2024, NBFCs microfinance portfolio jumped by 2.7%. If you see this in terms of loan sources, microfinance loans issued by banks grew by 11.2% in Q1FY25. But the same portfolio in NBFCs swelled by almost double-23.9%. While most of these loans had an average ticket size between Rs 30,000-50,000, there was a sharp spike in the number of loans that had a ticket size of Rs 80,000 or more. Data suggests that as of March 2024, more than 12% of all microfinance borrowers had over 4 or more active loans. In dating parlance, this is a classic case of borrowers going polyamorous, minus the honesty and transparency. Not the best of situations, you'd agree! <h2>Will banks and NBFCs stand up to this stress?</h2>If their results for Q2FY25 are to be believed, NBFCs are not handling the pressure all that well. Or even slightly well. Only a few banks like Bank of Baroda (BoB), ICICI, and Indian Bank were up for the battle, even witnessing a decline in their loan delinquencies. Some others, like IndusInd Bank, saw their stock dip by a massive 16.2% over the last 5 days. Its slippages in the previous quarter burgeoned from Rs 15.3 billion in Q1FY25 to Rs 17.9 billion in Q2. As a result, the bank pushed a staggeringly high amount of money to create an NPA cushion for itself. While its management has highlighted its preference for secured lending, that was hardly reflected in its actions during the quarter, where growth in unsecured personal loans remained exceptionally high at over 7% on a QoQ basis. Turns out, only 44% of customers in IndusInd Banks’ microfinance loan portfolio were exclusive to it. The rest 47% were, you guessed it right-polyamorous! 27% had borrowed from another lender as well, apart from IndusInd Bank, while 20% were those who had outstanding loans with two other lenders, apart from IndusInd Bank. IndusInd Bank’s credit card segment did not miss the NPA bus and accounted for 7-8% of its GNPAs. Canara Bank’s total slippages during the previous quarter jumped to Rs 11.1 billion, up by 24.7% QoQ, and making up for 3.6% of its total loans. As for Bandhan Bank, its gross NPA for Q2FY25 inched up on a QoQ basis, up from 4.23% in Q1, to 4.68% in the second quarter. IDFC Bank’s heavy provisioning for its NPAs marred its profits significantly, causing its PAT (profit after tax) to dip by 73% on a YoY basis. Data from ICRA Analytics suggest that the AUM (asset under management) growth in microfinance loans and unsecured (personal and business) loans by the NBFCs will moderate to 10-12% and 19-21%, respectively, in FY2025 compared to 30% and 38%, in FY2024. Says A M Karthik, Senior Vice President &amp; Co-Group Head, Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, “As bank funds constitute a larger share in the overall funding of NBFCs, a slower credit flow from banks to the NBFCs will compress their AUM growth. The NBFCs in unsecured and digital lending businesses shall face a higher squeeze in funding compared to others, and the unsecured lending space will continue to be a source of stress in the near term.” There has been uninhibited growth in <keyword id="6051027" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unsecured-loan" source="Orion">unsecured loan</keyword>s, apart from just the microfinance segment. For instance, Axis Bank’s gross slippages jumped by Rs 4,443 crore, largely thanks to its unsecured business. The same is the case with Yes Bank, which saw 35–40% of its retail slippages emerging from the unsecured loan portfolio. <keyword id="6376194" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kotak-mahindra" source="Orion">Kotak Mahindra</keyword> Bank was also quick to follow Yes Bank’s suit, with around 35%-40% of its slippages coming from credit cards. <h2>How is the road ahead?</h2>While RBI has just cracked its whip and served a warning at the moment, experts at Morgan Stanley believe that more changes (read regulatory lashes) are underway. Moreover, with both festive and wedding seasons underway in our country, unsecured lending might pick up momentum, much to the disdain of the calibrated approach banks have been taking towards it so far. But if the situation doesn't improve, RBI will not waste any time in becoming the typical tyrannical <keyword id="19897820" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bollywood" source="keywords">Bollywood</keyword> headmaster who runs his dominion with an iron fist. However, that's a story for another day. Do you have a topic in mind you'd want a simpler explanation for, or insights or personal experience to share on personal finance and more? Contact us at businessinsider@timesinternet.in.

Simply Put: Is the lending party over? The dangerous tango of Indian banks with microfinance and unsecured loans

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US bank stocks surged following Donald Trump's presidential election victory.</li><li>Markets see looser regulations and changes in oversight spurring more profits for banks. </li></ul>US bank stocks rallied on Wednesday after Donald Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wins-presidential-election-race-2024-11">cruised to victory</a> in the presidential election, with markets eyeing a better environment for dealmaking and lending to drive stronger profits. Shares of the largest US banks soared ahead of the opening bell. JPMorgan and Bank of America both rose 6%, Citi rose 8%, and Wells Fargo jumped 10%. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley climbed 6% and 8%, respectively. The SPDR S&amp;P Bank exchange-traded fund climbed 8%. Investors flocked to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/market-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-trump-harris-stocks-bonds-crypto-2024-10">financial stocks</a> as a popular "Trump trade" in the weeks leading up to the election, with allies of the president-elect stating that Trump planned to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/if-trump-wins-he-plans-free-wall-street-burdensome-regulations-2024-04-12/">unravel many of the regulations</a> imposed on the banking sector after the 2008 financial crisis.According to Gerard Cassidy, a large-cap bank analyst from RBC Capital Markets, Trump's victory is likely to see some top regulators ousted, including the heads of agencies like the Consumer Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.More banks could also consolidate in the coming years, assuming Trump's cabinet and advisors adopt a "pro-business" stance, Cassidy speculated. Commercial lending could also pick up, potentially causing bank revenue to beat expectations next year, he added."We've been very optimistic and bullish about the bank stocks all year, and last night's win by Trump continues that bullishness," Cassidy said in an interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/11/06/outlook-for-banks-from-a-regulatory-standpoint-is-quite-positive-says-rbcs-gerard-cassidy.html">CNBC</a> Wednesday morning. "We're going to see a real change in anti-trust, and we're going to see a change in banking regulation as well, and that's going to be positive for the banks."Leading up to the election, analysts also said they saw a fresh wave of dealmaking under Trump amid a potentially looser anti-trust stance from his administration. That could result in increased advisory revenue for big banks and help drive up profits.

Bank stocks soar after Donald Trump's election victory

Are you an avid credit card user? Are you up to speed with all the changes that have come into effect starting today, which is all set to impact your credit card usage, and your pocket. Here's a quick snapshot of all the changes that you should be well aware of: <h2><keyword id="19900482" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICICI-Bank" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="ICICI Bank" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="ICICI Bank">ICICI Bank</keyword> </h2>Starting today, ICICI bank has done away with fees for many services, which include request for a charge slip, which was earlier chargeable at Rs 100/slip and cash and cheque pick up, which also carried a fee of Rs 100 earlier. Earlier, for outstation cheque processing and duplicate bank statement (for three months), a fee of Rs 100 was payable. Now, all those charges have been waived. However, going ahead, you'll have to dish out Rs 200 instead of Rs 100, if you wish to get your credit card replaced. <h2><keyword id="19952948" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Axis-Bank" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Axis Bank" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Axis Bank">Axis Bank</keyword></h2>If you hold a <keyword id="19941660" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Citibank" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Citibank" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Citibank">Citibank</keyword> credit card, this is for you. The migration of all Citibank <keyword id="19953671" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="credit-cards" source="keywords">credit cards</keyword> to Axis bank will be complete by 15th July, 2024. Post that, you will receive new credit cards from Axis bank .However, until then, your existing Citibank cards will continue to work just fine. All your unredeemed points will be converted into EDGE miles. After migration, they will have an expiration period of 3 years. Starting today, RBIs new rules mandate that all credit card transactions in the country be processed through <keyword id="20779381" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharat-Bill-Payment-System" source="keywords">Bharat Bill Payment System</keyword> (BBPS). This means that if your bank has not come on board with BBPS, you will not be able to make payment through their credit card on other third-party platforms. Out of 34 banks that can issue credit cards, 12 banks have come onboard the BBPS. These include SBI, <keyword id="19938728" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kotak-mahindra" source="keywords">Kotak Mahindra</keyword>, IndusInd, Federal, HDFC, ICICI and IDFC bank. Indian Overseas bank and <keyword id="45660" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="yes-bank" source="Orion">YES Bank</keyword> are expected to go live soon. <h2>SBI Bank</h2>Starting July 15th, if you hold one of the 22 specified SBI credit cards, you will no longer accrue any reward points while making certain transactions, particularly if they are related to government services. These include Air India SBI Platinum Card, Air India SBI Signature Card, Central SBI Select+ Card, Chennai Metro SBI Card, Etihad Guest SBI Card, Fabindia SBI Card SELECT, IRCTC SBI Card, Mumbai Metro SBI Card and more. <h2>YES Bank </h2>If you hold a YES Bank credit card, the criteria for you to qualify for complimentary lounge access has changed. Starting today, you will have to spend at least Rs 35,000 from your credit card in the previous quarter, in order to be able to get a complimentary access to domestic airport lounges in the next quarter. Earlier, this threshold was set at Rs 10,000. This will impact YES Marquee, YES SELECT, YES Reserv, YES First Preferred, YES Bank ELITE, YES BYOC, and YES Wellness Plus cards. <h2>HDFC Bank</h2>Starting August 1st, if you make rent, or education related payments via platforms like Cred and Paytm, you will have to pay a fee of upto 1% of the transaction, which will be a maximum of Rs 3,000. However, if you make the payment directly through your school or college's website, you will be able to save on this charge. Similarly, on all fuel expenses of over Rs 15,000, a 1% fee will be applied, which can be a maximum of Rs 3,000.

What has changed for your credit cards, starting today?

<keyword id="19898109" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Paytm" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Paytm" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Paytm">Paytm</keyword> has regained approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (<keyword id="19998946" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NPCI" source="keywords">NPCI</keyword>) to onboard new UPI users, marking a significant turnaround for the fintech giant. This development follows a setback earlier this year when <keyword id="20410154" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paytm-Payments-Bank-Limited" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Paytm Payments Bank Limited" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Paytm Payments Bank Limited">Paytm Payments Bank Limited</keyword> (PPBL), an associate company of Paytm, was barred from adding new users to its UPI platform due to regulatory concerns raised by the <keyword id="19899810" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reserve-Bank-of-India" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Reserve Bank of India" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Reserve Bank of India">Reserve Bank of India</keyword> (RBI). <h2>Paytm gets permission to onboard new UPI users </h2> In a regulatory filing on Tuesday evening, Paytm disclosed that NPCI granted permission for the company to resume onboarding UPI users, provided it complies with all procedural guidelines and circulars issued by the corporation. “We would like to inform you that vide letter dated October 22, 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted approval to the Company to on-board new UPI users, with adherence to all NPCI procedural guidelines and circulars,” Paytm said in the filing. This move is seen as a relief for the company, which has been under scrutiny following the RBI’s intervention in January. The NPCI, which had previously allowed Paytm to operate as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) for UPI transactions, has now reinstated its ability to bring new users onto the platform, albeit with strict conditions. Paytm can continue UPI operations through its partnerships with major banking institutions, including SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and YES Bank. The NPCI’s approval comes after a thorough review of Paytm’s compliance with procedural guidelines, including those pertaining to risk management, app branding, multi-bank participation, and data privacy. The fintech firm has been instructed to adhere to key regulatory frameworks, such as the Payments and Settlement Act of 2007 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023. This approval follows a request by Paytm’s parent company, <keyword id="20253123" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="One97-Communications" source="keywords">One97 Communications</keyword> Ltd (OCL), in August, seeking permission to resume UPI onboarding. The NPCI’s decision also reflects that Paytm has addressed concerns raised in the RBI’s directive from earlier this year, which had highlighted persistent non-compliance issues with its banking subsidiary, PPBL. On a related note, Paytm reported a strong financial performance for the quarter ending September 2024. The company posted a net profit of ₹928.3 crore, a marked improvement from the ₹290.5 crore loss it recorded during the same period last year. <h2>What had happened? </h2> For the unversed, in January 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) to stop accepting deposits and processing UPI top-ups. This decision stemmed from ongoing concerns about the bank’s compliance and serious issues that needed addressing. As a result, Paytm found itself unable to onboard new UPI users, significantly disrupting its growing customer base and raising doubts about its future in the crowded <keyword id="19989657" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-payments" source="keywords">digital payments</keyword> market. However, things took a turn for the better in March 2024 when the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) gave Paytm the green light to resume UPI transactions. The catch? Paytm could only operate as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP), meaning it had to partner with established banks like SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and YES Bank for its UPI services. While this arrangement posed some limitations, it allowed Paytm to keep moving forward and adapt to the regulatory challenges it faced in India’s digital payment landscape. (with PTI inputs)

Paytm can onboard new UPI users again, receives NPCI nod months after RBI restrictions

Indian companies across multiple sectors have reported disappointing results in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, notes a new JM Financials report. Consequently, their poor performance has triggered stock price corrections for affected companies. The brunt of this weaker than expected earnings was largely borne by consumer centric sectors like FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), retail, and auto, which slacked largely due to dampened urban demand. For instance, India's largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki, reported a 5% YoY decline in its total domestic passenger vehicle wholesales, largely on the back of pent-up inventory. Similarly, Honda reported a staggering 23% YoY dip in its total sales during October 2024. A recent report by Bernstein noted that around 48% of the companies listed on the NSE100 index missed their earnings estimate for Q2FY25, the highest since March 2020. Most companies have mentioned deteriorated domestic demand, urban slowing, macroeconomic risk, and margin pressures as the main reasons behind the dip. "The quarter's earnings have made investors nervous," noted the JM Financials report. The challenging environment stems from multiple factors: softening consumer demand, rising input costs, and companies' limited ability to increase prices. Moreover, this is not limited to just one quarter. Companies have been reporting weak, single-digit earnings growth for the last six consecutive quarters. Data from India Data Hub also suggests that corporate profits of listed companies plunged by as much as 3.4% during the quarter ended September 30, 2024. This is in stark contrast to the year-ago period, where they had shot up by over 40% The oil and gas sector had a difficult quarter, with refiners hit by weak margins and city gas distributors struggling with higher input costs. Financial institutions showed mixed results. While government-owned banks reported strong numbers, microfinance institutions and some private lenders faced massive difficulties with their unsecured loans. Most notable amongst this was the case of IndusInd Bank, which saw its net profits dip by 40% amidst burgeoning provisions, which climbed 87% to Rs 1,820 crore in Q2, as against Rs 974 crore reported in the year-ago period. <h2>Markets head southwards</h2>The selling trend by FPIs has dragged down the major Indian indices, the Nifty 50 and Sensex, both of which have dropped by around 8% since the beginning of this selling spree in October. According to National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) data, FPIs offloaded equities worth a significant Rs 19,994 crore in just the first five trading sessions of November last week. The impact is clearly visible on Indian stock markets. Data suggests that while every sector in October closed the month in red, auto, oil and gas, and consumer durables were the most badly hit, each declining by as much as 10% during the month. Another indicator underlining the inherent weakness of the market was that the month saw only 242 stocks hit their 52-week high, significantly below the usual monthly average of 310.

India Inc. stares at an earnings dearth in Q2, FMCG, auto, and consumer durables falter

<ul class="summary-list"><li>JPMorgan and Wells Fargo kick off bank earnings on Friday.</li><li>Expect lots of questions about how lower rates will impact business going forward.</li></ul>When Wall Street's biggest banks report earnings this week, led by JPMorgan Chase, investors will be listening closely for clues about how a changing interest-rate environment could impact business in 2025.The Federal Reserve in September cut the so-called federal funds rate by 50 basis points — <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/fed-interest-rate-cut-ai-stocks-nvidia-broadcom-asml-tech-2024-9?_gl=1*1ax8rwf*_ga*MzQwMzI0MDQ1LjE3MjEzMDM4ODI.*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcyODQ5MTE5OC4yOTAuMS4xNzI4NDkxMjEwLjQ4LjAuMA..">the central bank's first cut</a> in more than four years. The September 18 move took place too late to impact third-quarter results, but stock research analysts are expected to pepper executives this earnings season about what a lower interest-rate environment might mean for business going forward.Lower rates can be a mixed blessing for banks. On the one hand, the Fed's campaign to increase the cost of borrowing has contributed to an era of sky-high returns for traditional lenders like JPMorgan, which have been making more money on loans than they have been paying for deposits. But that party was never going to last forever. (Indeed, top JPMorgan exec <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/c11b59f6-4827-4c4e-9f24-2f075b85f665">Daniel Pinto warned last month</a> that stock analysts' so-called NII expectations were too high.)Plus, lower rates could help unleash <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-2q-earnings-david-solomon-investment-banking-forecast-2024-7">the dealmaking backlog</a> that investment bankers have been talking about since the pandemic-era M&amp;A boom started to slow in 2022. Their bonuses are counting on it.Speaking of bonuses, third-quarter results will also be closely watched on Wall Street as an indication of how well investment bankers may get paid this year.JPMorgan and Wells Fargo will kick off earnings on Friday, followed by Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Bank of America on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley will report its earnings on Wednesday. Here are the top four things to look for this bank earnings season:<h2 id="629d7158-9393-4502-a5a4-b8a898b107c5">Investment banking</h2>Investment bankers have been predicting dealmaking will return since it started slowing in 2022. But this year, there are strong signs that companies are ready to start going public and merging again.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megamergers-deals-m-a-wall-street-comeback-2024-9">Preliminary data compiled by LSEG</a> shows 425 mergers globally so far this year valued at more than $1 billion. That's up 24% from the same period in 2023. What's more, deals valued at greater than $10 billion were recently up 39% compared with the same period last year.The number of companies going public is also soaring. 106 US companies have gone public through the third quarter, raising a total of $24.7 billion, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital. That's up from 71 in 2022 and 108 in 2023 and on track to beat the $27 billion raised in those two years.Third-quarter results — and commentary about 4Q dealmaking so far — will be closely watched for further signs of progress in M&amp;A, equity underwriting, and debt underwriting.<h2 id="bf745d80-abee-4488-881c-e8551a17811c">Trading</h2>At the Barclays Financial Services conference in September, big bank executives warned that trading revenues may be muted compared to 2023.Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon described a "more challenging macro environment, particularly in the month of August," and warned that the bank's trading business "is trending down close to 10%." Solomon cited the bank's revenues for FICC, or fixed-income, currencies and commodities, saying that results were "very, very strong" in the third quarter of 2023.At the same conference, JPMorgan's president and chief operating officer, Daniel Pinto, predicted that trading revenues would be "flat to slightly up 2%." "It was a bit more challenging environment to monetize client flows, particularly in rates," he said.<h2 id="723af9a4-99cc-49fd-b909-2fc736985cbb">Lending</h2>Stock analysts will be watching what banks say about net interest income, which is how much banks earn off the difference between what they pay on deposits and what they earn on loans. When the Fed started raising rates, banks were making out like bandits because they were able to charge more for loans more quickly than they were raising rates on savings accounts.But banks have been warning that this dichotomy wouldn't last forever, and loan growth has indeed been slowing as the economy slows. Lower rates could boost lending yet again, but that could take time. In the meantime, JPMorgan's Pinto in September warned that Wall Street stock analysts' 2025 predictions for NII of between $91.5 billion and $90 billion were too high, sending the bank's stock down."I think that that number will be lower," Pinto said at the Barclays Financial Services conference. "We are not going to guide on that now, but the $90 billion is a bit too high."<h2 id="b126e3af-7e38-4ed0-b6d7-4e67905737f9">Bonuses</h2>Banks tend not to talk about bonuses on earnings calls, but how bankers will be paid will be reflected in C-Suite comments about dealing and trading generally — as well as their predictions for the rest of 2024 and into next year.In good news, compensation expert Johnson Associates sees bonuses up this year across the board, an analysis that's reflective in part of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/press/releases/2024/10/dinapoli-wall-streets-2024-first-half-profits-232b-were-793-higher-last-year">Wall Street's earnings results</a> so far this year. See here for the compensation expert's views on bonuses for debt underwriting, equity underwriting, sales and trading, and more.<div type="image" title="Wall Street bonus predictions" height="630" width="1950" msid="114096916" hostid="261" sizebytes="88820"></div>

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