EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Despite ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (IPru Life) reporting improvement in long-term persistency ratios, there are worrying examples of brazen mis-selling of life insurance policies by the company through its corporate agent, Angel Financial Advisors and even its parent, ICICI Bank. The cases of two 21-year old customers...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Even though non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) dedicated to providing loans against gold ornaments are highly profitable and enjoy significant net interest margins (NIMs), stakeholders should be concerned about the vulnerability of their branches to robberies. The spate of robberies indicates that thieves are specifically targeting branches because...
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“What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of one?” – Bertolt Brecht
An internal working group (IWG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to review ownership guidelines and corporate structure for Indian private sector banks has recommended that large industrial houses be allowed...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. A newly-appointed (on October 9, 2020) deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed, for discussion, that large systemically-important non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) either convert themselves into banks, or that they contract assets, in order to protect financial stability. This proposal not only has...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. HDFC Bank’s 1HFY2021 results is a study in contrasts to its non-bank finance company (NBFC) subsidiary, HDB Financial Services (HDB). While the standalone bank reported a 19% yoy growth in net profits, HDB’s profits collapsed by an alarming 94% yoy (HDB reports only half-yearly performance). The dichotomy...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. On the opening date of Vedanta’s delisting offer (October 5, 2020), ICICI Securities (I-Sec) issued a results research note on Vedanta with the following bizarre statement: “Vedanta has highlighted the SEBI approved book value (ex the revaluation reserves) of Rs 89.3/share.” I-Sec, a listed subsidiary of...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Media commentators analysing the tenure (October 7, 2017 to October 6, 2020) of Rajnish Kumar as chairman of the State Bank of India , India’s largest bank by assets, have commented on the sharp decline in gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) in absolute and in percentage terms during...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. When an anonymous whistleblower tweets on malpractices at India’s most valuable bank, and provides authentic information to justify his claims, one would expect prominent banking journalists and independent directors of the bank to read his tweets. After verifying the details, they ought to bring these issues to...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reveal that, in the recent period of declining interest rates, while all banks have been reducing their deposit rates as well as their benchmark rates (marginal cost of fund-based lending rates), in July 2020 private sector banks have increased...
