Federal Bank – The Private Indian Bank From Pre-independence Era

October 4, 2016 / como / 0 Comments

Travancore Federal Bank was the name of Federal Bank of India when it was established in the year 1931. It was inaugurated at Nedumpuram near Tiruvalla Kerala (Tiruvalla is situated south of Kottayam). It had 14 founders with Sri Oommen Varghese as the Chairman and Sri Oommen Chacko as its Manager. It functioned successfully for 10 years and then stopped all of a sudden due to health problems of the Manager Sri Oommen Chacko.

Then a Lawyer of Perumbavoor took the charge and managed it efficiently. The name of the Lawyer was K.P.Hormis. later in the year 1945 K.P. Hormis also became the Managing Director and shifted its Headquarters to Aluva. In the year 1947 the name of the bank was changed to Federal Bank. In the year 1970, it became a Scheduled Commercial Bank. After a series of mergers and acquisitions including banks at Chalakudy, Thrissur, Alleppey, Puthenpally, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kurundwad, Federal Bank became even bigger with larger financial turnovers.

It is one of the largest private sector banks and the prominent one amongst the old private group of Indian banks.

PRESENT STATUS:
Now the bank has its Headquarters at Aluva, near Kochi in Kerala. It is presently running 743 branches across 24 states in India. It now has 803 ATM’s across India. Of these 803 ATM’s there are 108 in Metro Centres, 224 in Urban Centres, 384 Semi-Urban and 87 in rural areas. There has been several high-profile sponsorships and other modes of advertisement including the title sponsorship of the popular Indian cricket franchisee Kochi Tuskers Kerala of the Indian Premier League or IPL. It is also the fourth largest bank right now in India in terms of capital base and is also listed in the London Stock Exchange in addition to the Indian stock markets Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS:

The Federal bank of India has received many awards during its long journey since 1931 till now. Some of them are:
1. The banking technology Excellence Award for the year 2010-2011.
2. The Excellence Award for Second best bank among traditional private sector banks in Kerala.
3. The Great Mind Challenging Award for implementing the most innovative solution in Business.
4. Ranked number one in Economic Times Intelligence Group Survey.

SERVICES OFFERED:
The bank renders the following services:
1. Savings Bank Account.
2. Current Account.
3. Loans.
4. Deposits.
5. Debit Cards.
6. Fund Transfer.
7. Inward Remittance.
8. Online Bill Collection.
9. Bank Guarantee.
10. cash Management.
11. Demat Accounts.
12. Federal Pure Gold.
13. Gift Accounts.
14. Mutual Fund.
15. Safe Deposit Lockers.
16. NRI Banking Services.
17. Merchant Banking.
18. ASBA.
19. Visa Bill payment.
20. Master Card Secure Code.
21. Verified By Visa (VBV).
22. Online Tax Payment.
23. Mobile Banking -FedMobile.
24. Internet banking -FedNet.
25. Corporate FedNet.

LOANS:
It also gives Loans for various purposes like: Business, Agriculture an Rural, Housing, Educational, Travel, Personal, Car, Medical and Home Loans.

WORKING HOURS:
The Bank runs from morning 9 to evening 4 from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is a holiday. The Bank is closed on Public holidays. the timings are different for its Abu Dhabi Branch which works from 9 AM to 5:30 PM and this branch also works on Sunday.

Sending Money To Cambodia

June 14, 2016 / como / 0 Comments

Cambodia is, at present, listed as one of the 50 most underdeveloped countries. In recent years, unique attention has been given to emigrants sending money to Cambodia. In less than a decade, sending currency overseas to Cambodia has more than tripled. In 2007, The World Bank estimated $322 million in payments.

Because of the rapid growth of such payments, remittances now account for more than 4.1 % of national gross domestic product (GDP). As it stands, the top ten destinations to transfer money to include: Canada and the United States, as well as France, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Lao PDR. Other popular destinations include neighboring Asian countries: Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

Though a tremendous amount of money is being transferred, interestingly, most of the money is sent to rural destinations. Economically speaking, the unemployment rate is low compared to other developing countries, at 2.5% of similar ilk. However, the poverty level in 2004 published reports was estimated at 66%, before dropping to 35% in 2007.

A contributing factor to this economic change may indirectly have to do with increased funds and money transfer. Though the decrease is apparent, the poverty level still remains somewhat staggering with over 75% of the labor workforce doing traditionally low paying jobs like agriculture and farming.

The unemployment rate in Cambodia is 2.5%. This is relatively low compared to most developing countries. Even with a high employment rate, the poverty level dropped from 66% in 2004 to 35% in 2007. This may be due to most of the nation working in the agricultural industry which traditionally pays very low wages. The main sources of income are tourism and manufacturing. Cambodia’s garment industry has risen 10% last year.

The money is sent mostly to rural areas for daily living expenses it seems, averaging at approximately $200-$300 per month. Most families are struggling just to get by, and only a minimal amount is used towards luxuries like education and investment.

It is supposed now that with lower transfer costs and increased formal transfer service usage the total payments could considerably increase. Traditionally, in the past, international bank transfer has been the foremost used method. The expenditure(s) are estimated at around 10-30% of the money transfer desired. The surge of web-based online remittance services have competitively driven down the cost of sending money to Cambodia, in fact.

To facilitate online transfers, the sender can easily sign up via any transfer companys website. The online rechargeable ATM/debit card is sent to the receivers home via FedEx, in most cases. There are brand new ATM locations set up every day through which people can transfer money to Cambodia on a regular and continual basis. The town of Phnom Penh alone has over 160 machines.

The process is simple when wanting to enroll: Call either the companys toll-free telephone number or via the internet, both of which are accessible 24 hours a day. The rechargeable debit card is also sent via rapid mail service and can be refilled as needed. In addition to this, all transactions viewed online, just like a bank account allows.

Online renewable debit cards have driven down the amount it costs to send money to Cambodia. Convenience, security makes them the preferred choice for people transferring funds to Cambodia.