Banking Awareness For SBI PO

Dear readers, here we are providing some important Banking news which will be
imporntant for upcoming SBI Exam.

1. Main Points of RBI monetary policy review:
As on 1 April 2014, RBI (Reserve Bank of India) in its first bimonthly monetary policy
statement kept the key policy rate (repo) unchanged.

Current RBI Policy & Reserve Rates:
1. Repo Rate 8% (Unchanged)
2. Reverse Repo 7% (Unchanged)
3. CRR 4% (Unchanged)
4. SLR 23% (Unchanged)
5. MSF 9% (Unchanged)
6. Bank Rate 9% (Unchanged)

Note: i. Economic growth for 2014-15 expected at 5.5%.
ii. CAD expected to come down to 2% of GDP in 2014-15.
iii. Retail inflation expected to be under 6% in 2014.
iv. RBI asks banks not to charge penalty for failure to maintain minimum balance in
inoperative account.
v. It was first bi-monthly monetary policy review, next one scheduled for June 3.

2. World Bank has projected an economic growth rate of 5.7% in 2014-15 for India:
World Bank projected an acceleration of growth (factor costs) in FY 2014 to 4.8%,
further increase to 5.7% in FY 2015

3. Panel headed by Anand SInha for benchmark floating interest rate
RBI panel headed by RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha has recommended bringing a
benchmark floating interest rate, especially for home loans. Panel also
suggested Indian Banks Base Rate (IBBR).

4. SBI launches 3 Digital banking facilities for its customers

i. Tab Banking for Saving A/C - Opening Savings a/c at Customers door step using tablet
PC provided to the Banks Sales Staff (who visit the Customers home).

ii. TAB Banking for Home Loan - In-principle approval for the home loan at customers
door step using tablet PC provided to the Banks Home Loan Sales Team which will
capture on the tablet KYC details and details.

iii. e-KYC - Generates e-KYC (Know Your Customer) identity document. Fingerprints of
the customer will be captured and sent to UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India)
for authentication of identity and address proof. On successful authentication from UIDAI, the e-
KYC service will act in response to display demographic details like [Name, year/date of birth,
Gender, Address, Phone, email (if available)] and photograph.

Note: These facilities will offer ease and time saving to the customer for opening
accounts with SBI bank.

5. RBI grants In-Principle banking licenses to IDFC and Bandhan
RBI has granted in-principle banking licences to Infrastructure Development Finance
Company (IDFC) and microfinance lender Bandhan Financial Services Ltd.
The declaration was made by RBI after nod from the Election Commission. These are
the first licences to be awarded by RBI since 2003-04.

RBI constituted Bimal Jalan panel scrutinized the applications for new bank licences.

Note: The in-principle approval by RBI is valid for ONLY 18 months.

During this 18 month-period IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services Ltd will have to meet
all RBI rules and guidelines in order to secure a permanent licence to start banking
activities.

6. RBI extends deadline on capital norms under Basel III
RBI extended deadline for banks to implement Basel III capital norms up to March 31,
2019, instead of March 31, 2018. With the extension, the RBI has also revised deadline
for for meeting Minimum Common Equity Tier 1 and Capital conservation buffer (CCB).

Note: i. Basel III is a comprehensive set of reform measures, developed by the Basel
Committee on Banking Supervision, to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk
management of the banking sector.
ii. In terms of Basel III capital regulations issued by the RBI, the Capital Conservation
Buffer (CCB) will be implemented from March-end 2016 (against March-end 2015
earlier). Consequently, the Regulations will be fully implemented as on March-end 2019
(against March-end 2018 earlier).
iii. Basel series of norms refer to a broad supervisory standards formulated by
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to ensure that financial institutions have
enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses.

7. Kotak Mahindra Bank links current accounts to Twitter
The private lender bank, Kotak Mahindra launched a new current account product that will
enable the account holders to undertake 21 services viz. cheque book requisitioning, checking
last few transactions, etc, and using their Twitter accounts.
Note: i. For the activity of listed service, the bank customers have to use the dedicated
hashtags (#).
ii. The account christened Jifi, also involves a host of loyalty-based reward points
accrued from merchant transactions carried out using the account, referrals made and
sharing and commenting of tweets/updates.
Note: The bank has integrated all their systems with their core bankingsoftware and can
seamlessly throw up the required result into the account holders Twitter handle as a
direct message.

8. Bank of India (BoI) launched Instant Money Transfer (IMT) scheme
The Bank of India (BoI) launched an Instant Money Transfer (IMT) scheme and became the
first state-run lender to allow withdrawal of funds to individuals from its ATMs without an
account in the bank. In other words, the IMT scheme allows customers to withdraw cash
without using either debt card or credit card at BoIs IMT-enabled ATMs.
Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India is V. R. Iyer.

9. RBI hiked trade related remittance limit from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh per transaction
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the trade related remittance limit from Rs.2 lakh to
Rs.5 lakh per transaction with immediate effect and also increased the number of transaction
handled by exchange houses.
The hike in per transaction is on the review of the permitted transactions under
the Rupee Drawing Arrangements (RDAs).These changes have been included in the
Memorandum of Instructions for Opening and Maintenance of Rupee/ Foreign Currency
Vostro Accounts of Non-resident Exchange Houses.

Note: Vostro account (also known as a loro account) is one in which the domestic
bank acts as custodian or manages the account of a foreign counterpart.


10. Qatar based Doha Bank announced its First branch in Mumbai
Doha Bank announced that it will be opening its first branch at Nariman Point in Mumbai
in India. The branch in Mumbai will be opened as a full-fledged bank in May 2014.
Note: Doha Bank is the largest private commercial bank in the state of Qatar. It was
incorporated in 1978 and commenced its domestic and international banking services in
Doha, Qatar in 1979.

11. Ms Lakshmi Swaminathan : Became first Indian President of Administrative Tribunal of
the ADB
Ms. Lakshmi Swaminathan became the first Indian to become president of
Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for three years. Ms.
Swaminathan is the seventh president of the Tribunal. At present, she is a member of the Panel
of Arbitrators of several public sector undertakings and NSE.


12. BSE launched Institutional Trading Platform (ITP) on SME

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched an Institutional Trading Platform (ITP) to
helpSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-up companies to list on the bourses
without an Initial Public Offer (IPO). BSE Ltd set up the BSE SME Platform as per the rules and
regulations laid down by SEBI.

Read more: http://www.bankersadda.com/2014/04/banking-awareness-for-sbi-
po.html#ixzz34rB3mBUC
1. Recently which among the following panel recommends one-licence policy for all
banks irrespective of the ownership pattern?
(1) Nachiket Mor
(2) Arvind Mayaram
(3) Rajiv Takru
(4) C Rangarajan
(5) P J Nayak


2. As per the guidelines issued by the RBI, minors above ____ years of age have been
allowed to open and operate independently savings bank account and use other
facilities like ATM and cheque books?
(1) 10 Years
(2) 14 years
(3) 8 years
(4) 15 years
(5) None of these

3. What is the name of the Indias own card payment system that has been dedicated to
the nation recently by President Pranab Mukherjee?
(1) AtmCard
(2) RupayCard
(3) PaisaCard
(4) MoneyCard
(5) None of these

4. On 20 March 2014, RBI has proposed to setup of a Trade Receivables and Credit
Exchange for financing (TCE) to finance.....
1) Exporters of Iron
2) Importers of Gold
3) Foreign Exchange Dealers
4) Bankers and Pawn Brokers
5) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

5. RBI has introduced Marginal Standing Facility with the objective of:
(1) Controlling Inflation
(2) Containing instability in long term inter-bank rates
(3) Containing instability in the overnight inter-bank rates
(4) All of the above
(5) None of these Answers:
1 5 7 2
2 1 8 3
3 2 9 4
4 5 10 3
5 3 11 3
6 2 12 3



6. Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding RTGS system?
(1) The transactions take place in real time
(2) The system operates on DNS (Deferred Net Settlement) basis
(3) The minimum amount that can be remitted is Rs. 2 lakh
(4) Service charges for RTGS transactions vary from one bank to another
(5) None of these

7. A bank draft can be defined as a/an
(1) Letter from commercial bank
(2) Cheque drawn on the bank itself
(3) Direction to a banker to collect a customers debt
(4) Instruction to dishonour a stop payment
(5) None of these

8. Recently RBI pegged 2014-15 GDP growth at a central estimate of _____?
(1) 6% (2) 6.4%
(3) 5.5% (4) 5.4%
(5) 5%

9. Examine the following with respect to Exchange Earners Foreign Currency Account
(EEFC):
(A) It is a facility provided to the foreign exchange earner (individual or company)
(B) The account holders are entitled to get only 50 percent of their foreign exchange
earnings credited to the account
(C) It can be held only in the form of a current with no interest payable on it

Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(1) All the above (2) Only A
(3) Only B (4) Only A & C
(5) Only B & C

10. As per the provision in the new Companies Act, Non-Banking Finance companies
(NBFCs) have to maintain what per cent of the monies in low-interest securities or SLR-
backed instruments?
1) 5 per cent
2) 10 per cent
3) 15 per cent
4) 20 per cent
5) 25 per cent

11. Which of the following interest rates signifies RBIs long term stance of monetary
policy?
(1) Repo Rate
(2) CRR
(3) Bank Rate
(4) Reserve Repo Rate
(5) None of these

12. When RBI sells government securities, its result is that:
(1) The liquidity in the banking system increases
(2) The liquidity in the banking system remains unchanged
(3) The liquidity in the banking system gets diminished
(4) None of the above
(5) None of these

Answers:
1 5 7 2
2 1 8 3
3 2 9 4
4 5 10 3
5 3 11 3
6 2 12 3


Explanations of some Qs:

1. Reserve Bank of India's P J Nayak panel report calls for single bank licencing
regime. The report on banking governance of bank boards, headed by ex-chairman of
Axis Bank P J Nayak, said the one-licence regulatory regime for banks with broad-
ranging businesses would also not preclude RBI issuing niche licences under other
more narrowly defined, licensing regimes, if it were to choose to do so.

3. The new payment network Rupay developed by the National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI), a not-for-profit company envisioned by the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) and created by the banking industry, covers all the automated teller machines
(ATMs) and most of the retail and e-commerce platforms.
RuPay is the coinage of two terms Rupee and Payment.


4. The RBI has proposed setting up of a trade receivables and credit exchange (TCE) for
financing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The proposed model outlines
two stages for trade receivables, the primary segment where MSME bills are dematerialised and
discounted through the electronic platform through the mechanism of reverse factoring and the
secondary market segment where the already factored or discounted invoices are further traded.

5. Under the facility, the eligible entities can avail overnight, up to one per cent of their
respective Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) outstanding at the end of the
second preceding fortnight

12. OMOs are the market operations conducted by the Reserve Bank of India by way of
sale/ purchase of Government securities to/ from the market with an objective to adjust
the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.

When the RBI feels there is excess liquidity in the market, it resorts to sale of
securities thereby sucking out the rupee liquidity.

Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, the RBI will buy securities from the
market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.



Banking + Current Affairs Questions For SBI PO Exam
1. Which of the following is correct about Special Drawing Rights (SDR) created by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF)?
1) SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969.
2) Each member country of IMF has SDRs allocated to it in proportion to its quota in the
IMF.
3) Its value is based on a basket of key international currencies - the euro, Japanese
yen, pound sterling, and US dollar.
4) All the above
5) Only 2) and 3)


2. One of Indias best-known authors and journalists, Khushwant Singh died recently.
Which of the following statements is/are correct about him?
1) He started his writing career with Yojana, the Planning Commissions journal which
he founded and edited.
2) He was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1986.
3) He was awarded the Padma Bhushan (1974) and Padma Vibhushan (2007).
4) All the above
5) Only 2) and 3)

3. Which of the following public sector lenders has announced, for the first time in its
history, to offload around Rs 5,000 cr of its Rs 67,799 cr dud assets to asset
reconstruction companies (ARCs) recently?
1) Union Bank of India 2) State Bank of India
3) Punjab National Bank 4) Canara Bank
5) None of these

4. UN unanimously voted in favor of resolution condemning illegal oil export from which of
the following countries recently?
1) Syria 2) Libya 3) Yemen
4) Iraq 5) None of these

5. The Reserve Bank came out with final guidelines for the non-banking finance
companies (NBFCs) with regard to the early detection and recovery of bad loans
recently. Which of the following is correct in this regard?
1) The guidelines will be effective from 1 Apr 2015.
2) Before a loan account turns into an NPA, NBFCs will be required to identify incipient
stress in the account by creating a sub-asset category 'special mention accounts'
(SMA).
3) The Bank permitted NBFCs to sell NPAs to other banks, financial institutions or
NBFCs without any initial holding period.
4) All the above
5) Only 2) and 3)
1 4
2 4
3 2
4 2
5 5


6. The Pulitzer Price for Fiction -2014 has been awarded to Donna Tratt, for her novel
___?
(1) The Son
(2) The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
(3) The Gold Finch
(4) The Secret History
(5) None of these

7. Consider the following statements with respect to the recent BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit which was
held on 1 March to 4 March 2014.
(A) BIMSTEC group consist of 8 countries viz: India, Sri Lanka, China, Bhutan,
Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand
(B) Third BIMSTEC Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
(C) The main purposes of BIMSTEC are to create an enabling environment for rapid
economic development and accelerate social progress in the sub-region.
Which of the above statements is/are correct in this context?
(1) Only A & B
(2) Only B & C
(3) Only A & C
(4) All the above
(5) None of these

8. Over a decade after the state-run banks launched Kisan Credit Cards, which of the
following private sector lenders introduced its own card "Kisan Card" through which a
farmer can withdraw up to Rs 1 lakh per day from automated teller machines (ATMs)?
1) HDFC
2) Axis Bank
3) ICICI
4) Federal Bank
5) IndusInd Bank

9. Heena Sidhu is associated with which of the following games? She was in news,
recently, as she appeared on the cover of Dec 2013 issue of the magazine published by
the international body of the game.
1) Air pistol
2) Boxing
3) Archery
4) Discus throw
5) None of these


10. Currently, the aggregate foreign investment (FDI, FII and NRI) limit for public sector
banks (PSBs) is:
1) 20 per cent
2) 24 per cent
3) 49 per cent
4) 74 per cent
5) None of these


Answers
6 3
7 2
8 2
9 1
10 1



Explanation of Qs 10: The aggregate foreign investment (FDI, FII and NRI) cannot
exceed 74 per cent in private sector banks while the ceiling is at 20 per cent for
nationalised banks, State Bank of India and its associate banks.



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Read more: http://www.bankersadda.com/2014/05/gk-quiz-for-sbi-po.html#ixzz34rBYVVjV
Banking + Current Affairs Questions For SBI PO
1. Recently which among the following project from India has won the United Nation
Service Award 2014?
(1) Project Mobile Seva
(2) Project MGNREGA
(3) Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan
(4) Project Polio Free India
(5) None of the above



2. Recently Peter Mutharika has won the Malawi presidential election. Identify the capital
of Malawi?
(1) Valletta (2) Lilongwe
(3) Ulan Bator (4) Rabat
(5) None of these

3. Recently RBI Reserve Bank of India has directed banks to convert credit balances in
any inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupee if the
former remains not in use for how many _____ years from the date of maturity of
deposit?
(1) 2 years (2) 3 years
(3) 4 years (4) 5 years
(5) none of these


4. Who among the following has been appointed as the new Attorney-General of India?
(1) Mohitra Sharma (2) Nirpendra Mishra
(3) Mukul Rohatgi (4) Ashwani Kumar
(5) None of the above

5. Market regulator SEBI has proposed Monitoring Agency to oversee possible misuse of
IPO funds. Currently, companies are required to appoint such agencies only for IPOs
and other public issues worth _______or more.
(1) Rs 100 cr (2) Rs 200 cr
(3) Rs 300 cr (4) Rs 400 cr
(5) Rs 500 cr
1 1
2 2
3 2
4 3
5 5

6. Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) can be maintained in the following ways?
(1) Cash
(2) Gold
(3) Unencumbered approved securities
(4) All of these
(5) None of the above

7. Who is the Chairman of the Technical Committee formed to make a study on
improvement in Mobile Banking:
(1) Bimal Jalan
(2) Rahuram Rajan
(3) B Sambamurthy
(4) Pulak Kumar Sinha
(5) None of the above


8. What is nomination?
(1) A facility given to depositors by the Government
(2) It confers a right to the nominee to receive payment of a deposit after death of de-
positors
(3) It is a process of appointing legal heir by the depositors
(4) It is a part of will on behalf of a depositor
(5) None of the above

9. Which of the following countries has been suspended from the powerful G8 grouping
recently?
(1) Italy (2) Germany
(3) Russia (4) Canada
(5) None of these

10. Reserve Bank of India has included which among the following two countries in
sensitive list?
(1) Hongkong and Macua
(2) North Korea and Pakistan
(3) Sri Lanka and China
(4) Bangladesh and China
(5) None of these



Answers:
6 4
7 3
8 2
9 3
10 1


Explanations of Some questions:

1. (1) "Mobile Seva" has won the most prestigious United Nations Awards and bagged Second
place in the Asian and Pacific Region in the Category 3: PROMOTING WHOLE OF
GOVERNMENT APPROACHES IN THE INFORMATION AGE. It is the only project from India
selected as the winner this year.

his award is very unique and first of its kind to have been received by C-DAC Mumbai. The
project has achieved this success due to the untiring efforts of the entire Mobile Seva team from
both DeitY and C-DAC.

3. (2) The Reserve Bank of India has directed banks to: convert credit balances in any
inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupee if the former
remains not in use for three years from the date of maturity of deposit.


4. (3) Mukul Rohatgi appointed as the new 14th AG of the country. He replace G.E.
Vahanvati.

6 (4) SLR is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits that
the bank has to maintain in form of gold,cash or other approved securities. Thus, we
can say that it is ratio of cash and some other approved liabilities(deposits). It regulates
the credit growth in India.

Note: The main objectives for maintaining the SLR ratio are the following:
i. to control the expansion of bank credit. By changing the level of SLR, the Reserve
Bank of India can increase or decrease bank credit expansion.
ii. to ensure the solvency of commercial banks.
iii. to compel the commercial banks to invest in government securities like government
bonds.

7. (3) RBI appoints committee on mobile banking. B. Sambamurthy, Director, Institute
for Development & Research in Banking Technology will head the committee as
chairman.

10. (1) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has included Hong Kong and Macau in the
sensitive list of countries.
Macau and Hong Kong are two Special Administrative Regions controlled by China.
Businesses in these two regions are mostly owned by the Chinese. They could easily
come to India through their firms registered in Hong Kong or Macau, said a banking
source. Hong Kong, considered as a major financial centre in the world, is the Asian
headquarters of many global funds and corporations.


Note: Entities from these countries are not allowed to acquire immovable property in
India even for a branch office