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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Concern over bail-in -Jayanta Roy Chowdhury

Concern over bail-in -Jayanta Roy Chowdhury

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published Published on Dec 1, 2017   modified Modified on Dec 1, 2017
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Politicians of various stripes have started to raise red flags about a provision in a bill that the Narendra Modi government intends to move in the Lok Sabha in the upcoming winter session, which could theoretically allow beleaguered banks and financial institutions to scoop up depositors' money to stop them from going bust.

It is called a "bail-in" - a concept coined during the European banking crisis of 2008-09 - which has been wormed into the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill.

When a bail-in is triggered, a bank's depositors run the risk of being forced to bear a part of the burden of recapitalising the entity. In effect, a part of their deposits may have to be written off. That is what happened to bondholders and depositors in Cyprus banks with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts.

Finance ministry officials have said there is no cause for alarm and the provision is meant to ensure emergency capital for banks. They pointed out that banks in India have been fairly well regulated and there have been very few bank failures since 1969 when banks were nationalised.

The Congress and the CPM have started voicing deep concern about Section 52 of the bill that could in certain circumstances allow a "specified service provider" - read a bank - to cancel, modify or change the liability that it owes.

But this will have to be done in consultation with the Resolution Corporation, to be set up under the legislation, which will have the power to provide deposit insurance to banking institutions, find ways to haul a failing bank back from the brink, or act as a liquidator in the event that a liquidation order is given.

"This is a serious issue," says Nilotpal Basu, former MP and CPM central committee member. "The Modi government seems to be surreptitiously sneaking in a measure to institute 'hair-cuts' on depositors' money in a manner that is similar to what we have seen in Greece, Cyprus and other European countries which have gone through an economic crisis."

A note posted by the Congress on Wednesday said: "If the draft bill gets the nod of Parliament, it will empower the Resolution Corporation to cancel a bank's liability or alter it to another security."

The bail-in instrument may "convert any securities from one class to another, including the creation of a new security in modification of an existing security", the legislation says.

Before a bail-in instrument is to be activated, the Resolution Corporation will have to inform the central government about the reasons for issuing it in the first place and the effects it will have. A copy of that report will have to be immediately placed before each House of Parliament.

Finance ministry officials, however, played down the campaign against the bail-in provision in the bill.

"The purpose of the 'bail-in' is to help bring in emergency capital for banks. It does not mean that this clause will be used and certainly cannot be invoked for PSU banks which are covered fully by the state's sovereign guarantee," said a ministry official.

Safety of deposits

At present, a depositor in a bank can draw partial comfort from the fact that his deposit is insured to the extent of Rs 1 lakh with the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation which was set up under an act of Parliament in 1961.

The Rs 1 lakh cover is meant for all deposits of an individual parked in savings bank and current bank accounts and held as fixed deposits, irrespective of how much is parked in these accounts.

The FRDI legislation will change that significantly. The bill empowers the Resolution Corporation to decide the amount insured for each depositor. Theoretically, it is possible that the insured amount will vary for customers across different banks. It could also vary for different categories of customers within the same bank.

A corporation insurance fund will be created that will serve as the vehicle through which the deposit insurance will flow.

The corporation, in consultation with the appropriate regulator, shall specify the total amount payable by the corporation to any one depositor.

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The Telegraph, 30 November, 2017, https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/concern-over-bail-in-189987


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