Worried that your children staying away from home might lose or blitz through all the money you give them? Enter Axis Bank's prepaid card. The bank has come out with a pre-paid, re-loadable card, which will help you keep track of your children's expenses. While they can freely use the card for both withdrawals from ATMs and shopping, the major advantage is that you can load only as much money on the card as you think is prudent to be splurged. This can be done by paying the allowable cash or by depositing Cheques/DDs at any Axis Bank branch. What's more, you can also set the withdrawal and usage limits. The card has a five-year validity and has a lost card liability insurance cover of up to Rs 50,000. The card also gives several discounts offers from merchant outlets of leading youth brands.

Luxury locker

Ever felt annoyed at having to make a trip to your bank locker just before attending a party or a wedding to get your jewellery? Well, if you open a locker with IDBI Bank, you can save this chore for the last minute! IDBI Bank last week launched a 24/7 locker facility that entitles holders to avail of a special dressing room and even refreshments. The first such locker facility has been opened at the Cuffe Parade branch in Mumbai. For those of you who have hordes of precious jewellery, the locker comes in “King Size” and “Super King Size”. Charges are, however, quite steep at Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 a year in rent, compared to the Rs 3,000-5,000 you shell out normally.

20/20 interest

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank has launched a new special deposit window for 20 months and 20 days, which offers an interest rate of 10.5 per cent per annum, with senior citizens earnings 0.25 percentage points more on the same term. This is the highest interest rate offered by the bank across tenures. The bank has also effected increases in rates across its range of term deposits with effect from May 23. Apart from the 20/20 deposit, other term deposits on which the bank offers high rates are 1 year (10.25 per cent) and 5 to 10 years (10 per cent per annum). Senior citizens stand to receive 0.25 percentage points more across all terms. The bank is a scheduled bank and as is the case with all banks, deposits upto Rs.1 lakh will be insured by the DICGC.

Watchdog for wealth management

Investors who seek the services of wealth managers may soon see a regulatory body that could oversee the services rendered. In a meeting by the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), the need to regulate this space, among other issues, was discussed. Wealth management service involves rendering investment advice and services to high net worth individuals for a fee. It does not at present have a regulator to fully overseas its operations and falls under the purview of multiple regulators such as the SEBI and the RBI. With the panel expressing the need for a closer look at this segment, there could well be a single-point regulating or grievance redressal committee in future.

Borrow money on paper gold

With the physical gold financing market beginning to get a little crowded, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have begun to give loans with paper gold as a security. Paper gold includes gold savings certificate (e-gold) and gold ETFs. Given the high levels of purity of the underlying and adherence to know-your-customer norms by the investors, they may get high loan to value on such loans. NBFCs such as Religare Enterprises, Indian Infoline and Reliance Capital have started disbursing loans under this scheme.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW