The Hindu Business Line : Investment Quiz

1. Ramesh Gelli was the promoter and former CEO of Global Trust Bank (GTB), which was placed under moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India last week, and subsequently merged with the Oriental Bank of Commerce. Which private sector's bank CEO was Mr Gelli before he started GTB?

2. It was the oldest merchant bank in Britain when it went bust in 1995, following irregular trades in the derivatives market. Name the bank?

3. `Bad money drives out good money'. This is true in several aspects of life; but nowhere is its significance felt as much as in the banking industry. This saying is known as... .

4. The Institute for Works of Religion is not a body whose function is to spread the gospel. What is it?

5. Dr Y. V. Reddy is the Governor of the RBI now? The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, too, occupied this position in the 1980s. Who was at the helm when the RBI was established in the mid-1930s?

6.The massive problems that the Japanese banking system faces even today are attributed to trillions of yen lent to companies sponsored by organised mafia groups during the bubble period in the late 1980s. The mafia groups were known as...

7.In a bank vault in Atlanta in the US, a piece of paper that has the formula for a product has been stashed away for close to a century now. The vault can be opened only after approval by the board of directors of the company. Only two employees are aware of the formula at any time. Name the product?

8. The recently proposed merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc., and UFJ Holdings Inc, Japan's second- and fourth-largest banks respectively, would create an entity with $1.7 trillion in assets. Which bank will it replace to become the world's largest?

9. Last year, Punjab National Bank came to the rescue of Nedungadi Bank at the behest of the RBI. Which much larger bank from the PSU space did it bail out in the early 1990s, in a merger that cast a shadow on its finances for several years?

10. The merger with Oriental Bank has provided complete safety to the depositors of Global Trust Bank. In financial parlance, such bailouts and protection can encourage a behaviour that is referred to as...

Answers:

1. Vysya Bank

2. Barings Plc

3. Gresham's Law

4. It is the Vatican Bank, which also takes care of the banking needs of the Papacy.

5. Sir Osborne A. Smith

6. Yakuza

7. Coca-Cola

8. Citigroup Inc

9. New Bank of India

10. Moral hazard

S. Vaidya Nathan