Personal Loan Calculator Helps People In Determining The Emi Data To Be Paid To The Bank

There may come times in everyone’s life when there would be a need of availing the personal loan. Despite, several alternatives to personal loans being there in the market, people still prefer to avail personal loans to meet their miscellaneous requirements. One can avail the help of personal loan calculator and figure out that the bank from which the loan is going to be availed, how much emi has to be paid to them every month. The calculator would ask you to fill in the fields such as how much loan is availed, rate of interest and time period.

Based on the values filled in the personal loan calculator, you would get to know about the emi that you would need to pay to the bank every month

Summary: Personal loan calculator has the ability to make people aware about the emi figures they would be returning to the bank after availing the personal loan from them.

Car Loan Helps People To Live Their Own Dream By Availing The Car Of Their Own

Talking about the car loan in this article, the interest rate on the same is varying in the range of 10% to 13% these days and one would need to do a good comparison in order to avail the same form the bank offering loan at lower interest rates. This can be done by availing the help of various sources such as online calculators and other means that would help in figuring out the various attributes such as flexible repayment options.

Car loan has helped people to live their dreams of availing the car of their own. Now-a-days, even NRIs can avail car loans from banks. All you want to do is to do a comparison around different banks so as to land up with the right one to avail the loan.

Summary: Car loan can help people to avail the dream car of theirs and you need to compare the same by using different sources to take the loan at lowest possible interest rates.

Citibank opened new branch in Pune providing customer-friendly layout

Citibank India opened a new state-of-art branch in Pune. The branch is located at Koregaon Park on the North Main Road.

The new branch was inaugurated by Shirish Apte, CEO, Citi Asia-Pacific together with Pramit Jhaveri, Citi Country Officer, India and N. Rajashekaran, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India.

The new branch has been designed in such a way that it reflects Citi’s global design model that has developed from a traditional transactional banking environment to a more intuitive, customer-friendly layout. At this new branch customers will be provided more comfortable and collaborative space to conduct business, greater privacy and more effective use of technology which will help in increasing relationships. Along with enhanced facilities and services, bank will continue to provide the full range of Citibank’s products and services to Pune’s retail and institutional clients, including ‘Citigold’, the Bank’s flagship, wealth management platform for high net worth customers.

During the inaugurating of the branch, Shirish Apte, CEO, Citi South Asia said, "I am delighted to dedicate this new branch in Pune that has an exclusive state-of-the-art Citigold Select Lounge. Citibank has a very long history in India and India remains one of the priority markets for the company. As such, we will continue to make significant investments in India across a wide range of businesses and services and our customers and clients in Pune should see the benefits of these investments."

Pramit Jhaveri, Citi Country officer, India also gave speech at the inauguration. He said, "The prime location of this new branch underlines our commitment to deliver a superior banking experience, catering to the changing needs of our customers. Strengthening our presence in the city demonstrates the importance we place on being the bank of choice for our customers and is indicative of the many growing opportunities the city presents to further our consumer and commercial banking franchise here."

The uniqueness of the new Pune branch is the CitiGold Select Lounge which has been especially dedicated to cater to the branch's Citigold clients whose needs are increasingly getting more complex and specific, requiring a higher degree of personalization and specialization.

The other key design enhancements of the new Pune branch include use of warm colors, comfortable furniture, larger scale window graphics, greater privacy and the use of swivel flat-screen monitors and round tables to facilitate more productive customer/consultant discussions.

Currently Citibank’s have 42 branches across 30 cities. In Maharashtra bank has 10 branches of which 6 branches are located in Mumbai and one each in Pune, Nashik, Akola and Nanded.

Citibank Pune branch will open from Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM and Saturday 10 AM to 2 PM. Moreover customers will have access to 24- hour banking through multiple channels such as CitiPhones, Citi Mobile, Citibank Online (www.citibank.com/india) and ATMs.

Unique offer for Citibank card holders ‘Citi Fridays at Landmark’

Landmark, India’s leading book and music retailer in a tie-up with Citibank has introduced a unique offer, ‘Citi Fridays at Landmark’, a reason for book and music enthusiasts to celebrate the weekend.

Under this unique offer all Citibank cardholders who do shopping on Fridays at Landmark stores will be able to earn five times the reward points on all purchases made using cards, the offer will be valid till March 2010.

Discussing about Citibank’s association with Landmark, Sandeep Bhalla, Business Manager-Cards, Citibank India said, “Our customers have always shown interest in books and music as one of their core leisure activities. This is also clearly evident in our customers' credit card spending where these purchases represent a significant share of their total spends. Therefore, to bring more value through savings to our customers, we are launching Citi Fridays at Landmark. Landmark is a key merchant to Citi and extending this partnership is a win-win for us all.”

Expressing views on this new offer at Landmark, Mr. Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO, Landmark said, “We have always strived to present our customers with a unique shopping experience and this offer is one such endeavor. Citi Fridays at Landmark will surely add the extra edge to leisurely shopping. We are glad that we have come up with an offer that will benefit our customers. ”

So, all Citibank card holders go on shopping spree on Fridays at Landmark stores and avail the opportunity to make good collection of music DVDs and books.

Citibank, Barclays Bank increase minimum balance for savings accounts

The foreign banks are increasing the minimum balance the customers required to hold in their savings accounts. The banks are taking this move in order to close inactive accounts and increase low cost deposits.

Citibank, largest foreign lender in the country, has increased the average monthly balance requirement for its Suvidha savings account. From November 1 the Suvidha savings account customers will be required to maintain average monthly balance of Rs 25,000 instead of Rs 10,000. Earlier this year, British lender Barclays Bank has increased minimum balance requirement from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. After this move both the banks have to similar level of Standard Chartered, last year in December, the bank had increased its minimum balance requirement, so as HSBC. However ABN AMRO, has not hiked its minimum balance requirement of Rs 10,000.

Saru Kaushal, Business Manager-Suvidha at Citibank India told, “Citibank Suvidha is designed as a zero minimum balance account and continues to remain so. The monthly relationship value is a requirement that applies only when there is an interruption in salary credit... Suvidha account holders can choose to maintain the net relationship value across a bouquet of products comprising savings account balance, fixed deposits, mutual funds and insurance premium paid.”

According to a senior executive of a leading foreign bank, “Most foreign banks are doing it to weed out inactive accounts and attract the right kind of customers, since most foreign banks target premium customers. Banks also want to encourage the right kind of behavior among customers”.

Another foreign banker pointed out, “Foreign banks do not have the branch network that Indian banks do to access low-cost deposits. And since every transaction costs money, accounts with a minimum balance of Rs 10,000 are not remunerative”.

In India all public sector banks and foreign banks are required to offer a minimum number of no-frills accounts with zero minimum balance requirements. On these accounts banks do not give any basic features such as ATM-and-debit card and free cheque books.

Previously this year in March, HDFC Bank country’s second largest private sector lender, raised its minimum balance requirement to Rs 10,000 for urban savings account customers.

While last year ICICI Bank had raised its minimum balance requirements to Rs 10,000.

SBI, IDBI & Citibank asked by PF-RDA to improve pension plan sales

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PF-RDA) have issued instructions to the State Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Citibank to intensify efforts for selling products of the new pension system (NPS).

According to pension regulator, the three out of the 21 points of presence (PoPs) are not making enough efforts to attract more number of subscribers to NPS.

PFRDA Chairman D Sw­arup told, “I have written to SBI, IDBI and Citibank to step up efforts as PoPs. We feel they have not been pe­rforming to their pote­nt­ial.”

NPS started operation on May 1, since then up to August 7, as per latest figures by PFRDA IDBI has been able to sell just 52 fo­rms, SBI 36 forms and Cit­ibank a mere seven forms.

In a reply to why the regulator has pointed out only few entities when several other PoPs have not been able to sell a single form till last update, Swarup said as the operational size of the three banks is wider therefore the expectations from them was higher. He added, “T­hey are among the bigger o­nes that are not performing to their potential.”

Swarup informed the State Bank of India and IDBI ha­ve accepted the failure and have given the assurance to the regulator that they will step up efforts, as well as open more branches for selling NPS products and training of staff.

When contacted, Citibank officials refused to comment. A Citibank spokesperson said, “We do not comment on any regulatory matters or discussions with regulatory agencies”

The banks, which have performed better among the 21 PoPs, are ICICI Bank has sold 230 forms, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank (189), Co­mputer Age Managem­ent Services (171), Axis Bank (141) and UTI Asset Management Company (124).

The singled out entities that have not been able to sell a single form include Central Bank of India, Oriental Ba­nk of Commerce, State Ba­nk of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore and Union Ba­nk of India. As on August 7 the total forms sold by these PoPs stand at a meager 1,200.

Swarup told, “I have not written to other entities, including the SBI subsidiaries. Some of them have not yet obtained digital signature certificates for electronic fund transfer, which is required for safe fund transfer. They are working on it.”

The banks in the NPS believe that the slow takeoff by the PoPs is because of lack of incentives on selling pension products under the system.

A top official wi­th UTI Retirement Solutions pointed out, “The PoP fees at Rs 20 per transaction is leading to low participation. This is the principal reason for the lack of enthusiasm among the points of presence to sell the product. The fee structure needs to be lo­oked into.”

Citi bank launched ‘Citi Tap and Pay’ mobile payments in India

Citi Bank has introduced 'Citi Tap and Pay' here, in India the 'contactless credit card payment system' which will give customers the convenience of using their mobile phone as a credit card.

This new technology is based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and VIVOtech.

Jeff Semenchuk, executive vice-president and head of growth ventures, Citi Innovation informed reporters, "The launch of Citi Tap and Pay pilot service will be one of the world's largest pilots ever undertaken, establishing a fully secure scalable and interoperable mobile payments ecosystem in Bangalore".

By using this technology customers will be able to tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader at the point of sale to pay for purchases, instead of traditional swiping of credit cards, he said.

Jeff added this service will also do away with the need for customers to send SMS or incur mobile data charges to make these payments.

Nokia will offer the service with the support of NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic phones, which will replace the multiple of cards in consumer wallets. Vodafone network operator will provide the platform for the pilot service while MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure.

ViVOtech is providing the primary technology including the NFC wallet, the Over-the-Air (OTA) card provisioning software, the mobile coupon application in addition to contactless readers to the merchant who are opt for this technology to accept payments, N Rajashekaran, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, informed.

the new NFC-capable Nokia N 6212 classic phone will be pre-loaded with Citi Tap and Pay applications enabled with MasterCard's PayPass contactless payment technology so the can purchase at designated Nokia stores, he said.

This will enable the customers to securely execute an Over-The-Air download of their Citibank MasterCard credit card on to their mobile phone. Once custom-made, customers credit card on the phone is ready and can use the phone to make Tap and Pay transactions with the merchants having Citi Tap and Pay and MasterCrd PayPass readers, Rajashekaran informed.

The sources said Citi Tap and Pay transactions are absolutely secure as it require a PIN validation. The contactless payment transactions will be automatically charged to a customer's Citibank MasterCard card account.

Rajashekaran informed, "Out of Citibank's four lakh customers in Bangalore, we are looking at 5,000 for this pilot project which will continue for six months".

Citibank’s customers can purchase NFC-Capable Nokia N 6212 at an inaugural price of Rs 5,000 originally it is priced at Rs 11,650.