-Frontline How far will the proposed women's bank help marginalised sections when women's SHGs get little support and find it hard even to open accounts in public sector banks? WHILE the recent announcement of a women's bank in the Union Budget has been touted as a progressive measure for the financial inclusion of women, no concrete measures have been forthcoming to make all existing public sector banks sensitive to the needs...

-PTI The Reserve Bank on Thursday sought to downplay the money-laundering allegations against three private sector banks, saying the country has a "perfect" system to prevent such offences and that not a single such transaction took place in the sting operation. The country's three largest private banks -- ICICI bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank -- were last week accused of indulging in money laundering both within and outside with an online...

-The Economic Times Finance Minister P Chidambaram has warned corporate bigwigs against wilful defaults, reminding promoters that it was their duty to bring in additional capital if their companies got into trouble. "We cannot have an affluent promoter and a sick company," he said, in an apparent reference to the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines, owned by the flamboyant Vijay Mallya. Banks are stuck with nearly Rs 7,000 crore worth of loans they...

-PTI ICICI Bank on Friday suspended 18 employees pending investigation, sources in the bank said, a day after an independent journalist accused it and two other private banks of money-laundering practices. The suspension is pending the bank’s investigation into money laundering charges, sources in ICICI told PTI. The probe is expected to be completed in two weeks. Country’s three largest private banks, including the ICICI Bank, were on Thursday accused of indulging in...

-Outlook Taking note of a sting operation that alleged money laundering by three leading private sector lenders, the Finance Ministry today said that it has asked banks for more details on the issue. "RBI has contacted the banks invloved...We have asked banks for more details on the expose," Banking Secretary Rajiv Takru said here. Meanwhile, RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel in Mumbai said the central bank is in touch with the concerned banks...