BankExamsToday Weekly Summary: February (20 to 26)

Ques 1. When was National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) set up?
Ans: NPCI was incorporated in December 2008 and the Certificate of Commencement of Business was issued in April 2009 under Section 25 , Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013). The authorized capital was Rs 300 crore and paid up capital was Rs 100 crore.
Shri Balachandran M is the Chairman and the headquarters is in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Ques 2. What are the services that NPCI has offered till now?
Ans: National Financial Switch (NFS) - provides e-commerce transactions with interbank payment gateway and shared ATMs.

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)- mobile app based on UPI
Unified Payment Interface (UPI)- fund transfer using mobile based payment method
Immediate Payments Service (IMPS) – provides electronic fund transfer payment mechanics through usage of mobile phones, internet banking and ATM
*99# - provides banking services to common man which works on USSD channel.
National Automated Clearing House (NACH)- facilitates high volume interbank transactions which occur repetitively.
Cheque Truncation System (CTS)- clearing cheques using online image basis
Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)- provides point of sales transactions with Aadhar enabled number.
RuPay- domestic card payment network provided at very low transaction cost
Bharat Bill Payment system (BBPS) – unified platform for bill payment system in the country

Ques 3. Briefly discuss Bharat QR code.
Ans: Bharat QR code is launched by the RBI on February 20,2017. It is a product that is being developed by all four major card payment companies RUPAY card , VISA, MASTERCARD and AMERICAN EXPRESS. BHARAT QR code is introduced to standardise the QR codes, thus facilitating electronic transactions in shops without the expensive card swipe machines.

Ques 4. Briefly discuss about Payments Bank.
Ans: A Bank which is licensed as a Payments Bank can only receive deposits and provide rim. Lending activities are not permissible for these banks. So, Payment Banks can only issue ATM/debit cards, but can not issue credit cards.
A Payments Bank has to keep 75% of their demand deposits in government bonds whose yield is low and has to open 25% of its branches in unbanked, rural areas.

Ques 5. How much amount will Airtel Payment bank give under personal accidental insurance?
Ans: Rs 1 Lakh with every saving account

Ques 6. What is LIBOR and MIBOR?
Ans:LIBOR stands for London Inter Bank Offered Rate. LIBOR is the benchmark/reference for average interest rates – used by the A-Grade banks as “Offer” for lending their funds to the A-Grade banks as unsecured loans in marketable lot in London based interbank transactions.
MIBOR stands for Mumbai Inter Bank Offered Rate. Like LIBOR, MIBOR is the benchmark for overnight interest rates BUT ONLY for the Indian Rupee (INR) at which banks can lend or borrow funds, in marketable size, from other banks in the Indian interbank money market.

Ques 7. What is 'Fractional Reserve Banking?
Ans: Fractional reserve banking is a banking system in which only a fraction of bank deposits are backed by actual cash on hand and are available for withdrawal. This is done to expand the economy by freeing up capital that can be loaned out to other parties.

Ques 8. Briefly explain Himmat app.
Ans: Himmat app was launched by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on 1st January 2015. It is a mobile-based application basically used for the safety of women travelling alone and sometimes late at night. It can be downloaded free of cost from the Delhi Police website- www.delhipolice.nic.in or from Google play store.

Ques 9. What is BIS?
Ans: BIS stands for Bank for International Settlement, popularly termed as “Bank for Central Banks” has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, came into being consequent of the provisions of Hague Agreement of 1930. It has the objective of serving the Central Banks of various nations, aiding them to develop an environment of monetary and financial stability via concerted efforts to bring about International co-operation

Ques 10. What is ICSID?
Ans: International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) formally established in 1986 via the Convention on the settlement of Investment Disputes between states and Nationals of other states or popularly termed as ICSID Convention. It has 161 member nations.

Headquartered in Washington D C, the United States, it is one of the five organisations of the World Bank group along with IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency), IDA (International Development Association) as well as IFC (International Finance Corporation).
Though the much-generalised objective of World Bank is Poverty Reduction, the five organisations particularly ICSID contributes towards the same via facilitation of conciliation as well as Arbitration of International Investment related disputes.

Ques 11. Write down the difference between RTGS and NEFT.
Ans: RTGS is Real Time Gross Settlement, while NEFT is National Electronic Funds Transfer.
RTGS completes transactions in real-time, and is therefore faster than NEFT, which completes transactions in cycles.

RTGS is gross settlement, where a transfer is completed on a one-to-one basis, while NEFT is on a Deferred Net Basis, where transfers are bundled and deferred for a specific time.
RTGS is a high value transfer system, handling funds worth Rs 2,00,000 and above, while NEFT transfers smaller amounts, the maximum amount per transaction is restricted to Rs. 50,000 (for cash based payment within the country and payments to Nepal).

Ques 12. What is Cheque Truncation?
Ans: Truncation is the process of stopping the flow of the physical cheque issued by a drawer at some point with the presenting bank to the drawee bank branch. In its place an electronic image of the cheque is transmitted to the drawee branch by the clearing house, along with relevant information like data on the MICR band, date of presentation, presenting bank, etc.