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Banking in India
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1. Banking Industry In India Presented by: Group 6_Sec B
2. Banking as a Whole Types and Functions Commercial Banking Retail Financial Services Investment Bank Divisions Asset and wealth Management Treasury and Securities Services Card Services
3. Functions of Bank • Accepting deposits from Public • Lending money to public • Remittances/Collection Business • Keeping valuables in safe custody • Government business • Acting as trustee • Treasury services • Capital Market activity
4. History of Banking in India
5. The reminisce of banking in India can be traced back to the 4th century BC in the 'Kautilya Arthashastra'. However the real roots of commercial banking in India can be traced back to the early eighteenth century. Bank of Hindustan was set up in 1870,it was the earliest Indian Bank. Later, three presidency banks under Presidency Bank's act 1876 i.e. Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras were set up, which laid foundation for modern banking in India In 1921, all presidency banks were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India.
6. The first bank which was exclusively set up by Indians was Allahabad Bank, followed by Punjab National Bank Ltd. set up in 1895 with headquarters at Lahore The Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935 to control & regulate these banks in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. In 1955, RBI acquired control of the Imperial Bank of India, which was renamed as State Bank of India. In 1959, SBI took over control of eight private banks floated in the erstwhile princely states, making them as its 100% subsidiaries. The plan for nationalization was passed in1968. Thus forming the third turning point in the history of Indian Banking in India. The Narasimha Committee report suggested wide ranging reforms for the banking sector in 1992 to introduce internationally accepted banking practices. The amendment of Banking Regulation Act in 1993 saw the entry of new private sector banks. private sector banks.
7. Who Regulates the Financial Sector in India? Ministry of Finance • Controls and assists the financial sector • Every year the finance minister announces the budget • Also acts as the policy maker and regulates the financial sector Reserve Bank of India • Apex Financial Institution of India, established in April 1935 • Advises the central board on various matters • Acts as the investment banker to the Government Securities and Exchange Board of India • Regulator of securities market in India • Protects the interest of investors in securities • Also regulates the development of securities market Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority • An agency of the Government, based in Hyderabad • It works on the guidelines of IRDA Act, 1999 • Safeguards the interest of the common man
8. Banking Structure in India
9. Indian Financial System –Share by Asset Size - 2013 Indian Banking System – Share by Asset Size - 2013 Segment Market Share of Financial Assets (%) Institutions Banks 63 Market Share of Banking Assets (%) Insurance Companies 19 92.4 Non-Banking Financial Institutions 8 Scheduled Commercial Banks Public Sector Banks 67.2 Mutual Funds 6 Private Sector Banks 18.7 Provident and Pension Funds 4 Foreign Banks 6.5 Regional Rural Bank 2.7 Co-operative Banks 3.4 Local Area Banks 1.5 Banks dominate the Indian Financial System The Banking System is dominated by Commercial Banks
10. Share in the Banking Space Type of Banks Number of Banks Number of Branches %age Share of Number of Branches Market Share of Assets (%) Public Sector 26 67,466 83.0 72.8 Private Sector 20 13,452 16.6 20.2 Foreign Banks 41 323 0.4 7.0 Total 87 81,241 100.0 100.0 Public sector banks have more presence relative to their share of assets.
11. Analysis of the previous Data • Within the banking system, public sector banks (PSB) continue to dominate with 73% of market share of assets and 83% of branches. • Rural and urban co-operatives banks have a relatively small share in the banking system. However, given their geographic and demographic outreach, they play a key role in providing access to financial services to low and middle income households in both rural and urban areas. • Similarly, RRBs play a key role in promoting financial inclusion. The Government is pursuing branch expansion and capital infusion plans for the RRBs.
12. Types of Banks Central Bank (RBI) Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) Commercial Banks Public Sector E.g. SBI PNB BOB Private Sector Foreign E.g. HDFC Bank UTI Bank ICICI Bank E.g. Citibank ABN Amro HSBC State/Central Co-operative Banks Term Financial Institutions Regional Rural Banks State Finance Corporations (SFCs) Indian Financial Institutions E.g. IFCI NABARD SIDBI Private Primary Credit Societies
13. Business Division • Loans to individuals (Auto loan, housing loan, Education Loan and other personal loan) or small businesses • Loans to Mid and Large corporate (Working Capital loans, Project finance, Term loans, Lease Finance) • Investment in Equity, Derivatives, Commodities, Mutual funds, Bonds, Trading and Forex operations • Merchant Banking, Leasing Business, Hire purchase, Syndication services etc. Retail Banking Wholesale Banking Treasury Operations Other Banking Businesses
14. 1 2 3 Retail Banking Loan Products • Auto Loan • Gold Loan • House Loan • Credit cards • Education Loan • Loan against Securities • Retail Banking Business Deposit Products • Deposits • Saving Accounts • Current Accounts • Fixed / Recurring • Corporate Salary A/C Treasury Banking Transaction Banking • Cash Management • Custodian Services • Clearing Bank Services • Tax Collections • Banker to Public Issues Commodities(Inc Hedging) Product Segment • Equities • Derivatives • Capital Market • Debt Securities • Foreign Exchange Wholesale Banking Commercial Banking • Term Loan • Guarantees • Bill Collection • Letter of Credit • Working Capital • Forex & Derivatives • Wholesale Deposits Other Financing • Cash Management • Statutory Reserve • Financial Decisions • Asset Liability Management Other Products/Services • NRI services • POS Terminals • Private Banking • Demat Services • Mutual Fund Sales • Foreign Exchange Services Key Segment • Large Corporate • Emerging Corporate • Financial Institutions • Government/PSUs • Agriculture Commodities
15. Expansion of banks since Nationalization Year 1969 1991 2007 2013 No of Commercial Banks (Incl. RRBs and LABs) 73 272 182 173 No of Bank Offices 8,262 60,570 74,563 1,01,261 5,172 46,550 47,179 62,061 Population per office 64,000 14,000 15,000 13,000 Per capita Deposit of Scheduled Commercial Banks 88/- 2,368/- 23,382/- 51,106/- Per capita Credit of SCBs 68/- 1,434/- 17,541/- 39,909/- (of which Rural and Semi-urban bank office)
16. Analysis of Previous Data • Since nationalization of 14 major commercial banks in 1969, followed by nationalization of another 6 banks in 1980, Indian banking system has expanded rapidly. • The number of bank offices increased from about 8,000 in 1969 to over 100,000 by 2013. • The average population per branch office has sharply declined from 64,000 in 1969 to 13,000 today. • Both per capita deposit and per capita credit have expanded about 600 times. Even accounting for inflation, this is significant expansion.
17. Operation and Performance of Commercial Banks (KPIs)
18. BSE Bankex Performance 40000 35000 Value of Index 30000 25000 Sensex 20000 Bankex 15000 10000 5000 0 27-Jan-09 27-Jan-10 27-Jan-11 27-Jan-12 27-Jan-13
19. Bank Credit Growth Compared with Economic and Banking aggregates
20. Growth in Balance Sheet of SCBs
21. Trends in Income and Expenditure of SCBs
22. Growth in Gross Advances across Bank Groups Trends in Current and Savings Account
23. Trends on Incremental Credit-Deposit and Investment Deposit Ratios Trends in Outstanding C-D Ratio, Bank Wise
24. Gap between Proportion of Liabilities and Assets in Various Maturity Buckets Growth in Balance Sheet and Offbalance Sheet Transactions
25. Trends in Deposit and Lending Rates of SCBs
26. ROA and ROE of SCBs – Bank Group wise Growth of Selected Items of Income and Expenditure
27. Laws controlling Indian Banking Sector
28. Legal frame work of Banks Banking Regulation Act,1949 Reserve Bank of India Act,1934
29. Banking Regulations and Laws • Banking in India is governed by • Banking Regulation Act,1949 and • RBI Act,1934 • Banking in India is controlled/monitored by RBI and Govt. of India. • The controls for different banks are different based on whether the bank is a) statutory corporation b) a banking company c) a cooperative society
30. The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 • The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 provides the statutory basis of the functioning of the Bank, which commenced operations on April 1, 1935. • The Bank was constituted to • Regulate the issue of banknotes • Maintain reserves with a view to securing monetary stability • To operate the credit and currency system of the country to its advantage • Amendments have been made from time to time to include the latest requirements. (A provision was inserted by the Information Technology Act,2000 to enable RBI to make regulations for regulating payment systems of banks and financial institutions)
31. Reserve Bank of India Act,1934(RBI Act)-2 RBI Act deals with: • Incorporation, capital management and business of banks • Central banking functions • Financial supervision of banks and financial institutions • Management of forex/reserves • Control functions : bank rate, audit accounts,penalities for violation
32. Banking Regulation Act,1949 (BR Act) • The Central Banking Enquiry Committee recommended the need of a separate legislation to control banks due to mushroom growth of banks with inadequate capital, dishonest management, speculative business etc.. • A bill was Passed in parliament in February 1949 and The Banking Regulation Act 1949 came to exist from 16th March 1949. • BR Act covers banking companies and cooperative banks, with certain modifications. • BR Act is not applicable to a) primary agricultural credit societies b) land development banks • BR Act allows RBI (Sec 22) to issue license for banks
33. Important Provisions of Act  Definition of Banking.  Provision Regarding Loans and Advances.  Form of Business.  Inspection of Banks.  Provision of Capital  Powers of the Reserve Bank of India.  Management  Returns to Be Submitted.  Maintenance of Liquid Assets.  Acquisition of Business.  Licensing of Banks.  Mergers/Amalgamations.  Opening of New Banks.  Winding up of Banking Companies.
34. Laws related to Banking Sector Other Acts Companies Act (1956) Banking Companies Act Negotiable Instruments Act (1881) SARFAESI act (2002) Bankers' Books Evidence Act (1891) Regional Rural Bank Act (1976) SBI Act (1955)
35. Different stages of developments • From 1786 till today, the journey of Indian Banking System can be segregated into three distinct phases. They are as mentioned below: Phase-I • Early phase from 1786 to 1969 of Indian Banks. Phase-II • Nationalization of Indian Banks and up to 1991 prior to Indian banking sector Reforms. Phase-III • New phase of Indian Banking System with the arrival of Indian Financial & Banking Sector Reforms after 1991.
36. Phase-I • During the first phase the growth was very slow and banks also experienced periodic failures between 1913 and 1948. • There were approximately 1100 banks, mostly small. • To streamline the functioning and activities of commercial banks, the Government of India came up with • The Banking Companies Act, 1949 Banking Regulation Act 1949 as per amending Act of 1965 (Act No. 23 of 1965). • Reserve Bank of India was vested with extensive powers for the supervision of banking in India as the Central Banking Authority.
37. Phase-II • There were major reforms in the Indian Banking Sector after independence. • In 1955, the Govt. nationalized Imperial Bank of India with extensive banking facilities on a large scale specially in rural and semi-urban areas • The following are the steps taken by the Government of India to Regulate Banking Institutions in the Country: • • • • • • • • 1949 : Enactment of Banking Regulation Act. 1955 : Nationalization of State Bank of India. 1959 : Nationalization of SBI subsidiaries. 1961 : Insurance cover extended to deposits. 1969 : Nationalization of 14 major banks. 1971 : Creation of credit guarantee corporation. 1975 : Creation of regional rural banks. 1980 : Nationalization of seven banks with deposits over 200 crore.
38. Phase-III • This phase has introduced many more products and facilities in the banking sector in its reforms measure. • In 1991, under the chairmanship of M Narasimham, a committee was setup(Narasimham Committee on Banking Sector Reforms) which worked for the liberalization of banking practices
39. Different Banks in India
40. Classification of Banks One classification divides banks into the following types : • Saving Banks • Commercial Banks • Industrial Banks • Land mortgage Banks • Indigenous Banks • Central, federal, national bank • Co-operative Banks • Exchange Banks • Cooperative Banks
41. For the ease of understanding, we've decided to focus on India's top most banks which have been classified into Private Banks, Public Banks and Foreign Banks. • The private-sector banks in India represent part of the Banking sector that is made up of both private and public sector banks.  The "private-sector banks" are banks where greater parts of stake or equity are held by the private shareholders and not by government.  The private sector banks are split into two groups by financial regulators in India, old and new.  The old private sector banks existed prior to the nationalization in 1969 and kept their independence because they were either too small or specialist to be included in nationalization.  The new private sector banks are those that have gained their banking license since the liberalization in the 1990s. • Public Sector Banks (PSBs) are banks where a majority stake (i.e. more than 50%) is held by a government. The shares of these banks are listed on stock exchanges. There are a total of 29 PSBs in India • Foreign Banks are banks who entered
42. Source Business week
43. Private Banks in India
44. YES BANK • YES BANK was founded by Ashok Kapur and Rana Kapoor, with the duo holding a collective financial stake of 27.16%. • YES BANK is the only Greenfield license awarded by the RBI in the last 17 years, associated with the finest pedigree investors. • Since its inception in 2004, YES BANK has fructified into a '"Full Service Commercial Bank" that has steadily built Corporate and Institutional Banking, Financial Markets, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Branch Banking, Business and Transaction Banking, and Wealth Management business lines across the country. • Today, YES BANK has a widespread branch network of over 500 branches across 350 cities, with 1050+ ATMs and 2 National Operating Centers in Mumbai and Gurgaon.
45. ICICI BANK • The second largest bank in India in terms of assets, ICICI was founded in the year 1955 as Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, a wholly owned subsidiary. • The bank has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia, and Canada; branches in Bahrain, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Centre; and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company's UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany. • The current CEO of ICICI is Chanda Kochhar. She's been credited to have transformed the bank after she took over as CEO.
46. HDFC • HDFC Bank began operations in 1995 with a simple mission: to be a"World-class Indian Bank". • HDFC Bank is the fifth largest bank in India by assets. It is also the largest bank by market capitalization as of 1 November 2012. As on Jan 2 2014, the market cap value of HDFC was around USD 26.88B, as compared to Credit Suisse Group with USD 47.63B. The bank provides the following services • Personal banking • NRI banking • SME banking • Wholesale banking
47. AXIS Bank • Axis Bank Limited is the third largest private sector bank in India. It offers financial services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, MSME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses. Axis Bank has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. • Shikha Sharma is the bank's current CEO. • The Most Trusted Brands Survey 2013 rated Axis Bank as the Most Trusted Private Sector Bank in India.
48. Public Owned Banks
49. State Bank of India • SBI is a government-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As of December 2013, it had assets of US$388 billion and 16,000 branches, including 190 foreign offices, making it the largest banking and financial services company in India by assets. • The roots of the State Bank of India lie in the first decade of 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta was established on 2 June 1806. The Bank of Bengal was one of three Presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of Madras . All three Presidency banks were incorporated as joint stock companies. • The Presidency banks amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the re-organised banking entity took as its name Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank of India remained a joint stock company but without Government participation. • Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955, the Reserve Bank of India, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 1 July 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India.
50. Punjab National Bank • Punjab National Bank is based in New Delhi, India and was founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. • The Bank was founded on April 12, 1895 in Lahore (Pakistan)
51. Bank of Baroda • Known as India's International Bank, Bank of Baroda started its journey in the year 1908. • Bank of Baroda prides its self in keeping a mission of becoming a top ranking National Bank of International Standards committed to augmenting stakeholders value through concern, care and competence. • Bank of Baroda started a new brand identity, one that is more than just cosmetic change. It adopted a new logo that stands for the Baroda Sun – simple yet powerful.
52. Syndicate Bank • It is one of the oldest and major commercial banks founded by TMA Pai in the city of Udupi. • It was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited. • The bank, along with 13 major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on 19 July 1969, by the Government of India. • By 1937, it had secured its membership as a clearing house at Mumbai. The primary objective of the business was to extend the financial assistance to local weavers. Initially, the bank collected as low as two annas from the door steps of the depositors daily through its agents. This type of system wherein the agents of the bank come doorsteps to collect deposit is still prevailing in India and is referred to as the Pigmy Deposit Scheme
53. IDBI BANK • The industrial development Bank of India was established on 1st July 1964, under an Act of the Parliament as a wholly owned subsidiary of the RBI. On 16th February 1976, the ownership of IDBI was transferred to the government of India and it was made the principle financial institution for coordinating the activities of institutions engaged in financing, promoting and developing industry in the country. • Its Headquartered in India and its current CMD is M.S Raghavan.
54. Top foreign banks in India
55. Standard Chartered • Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational banking and financial services company. It is headquartered in London. • It operates a network of over 1,700 branches and outlets (including subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures) across more than 70 countries and employs around 87,000 people. • SC is India's largest international bank with 99 branches in 42 cities. • It started its operation in the year 1858. • Standard Chartered PLC, SC's UK based parent, became the first foreign company to list in India through the issuance of Indian Depository Receipts in June 2010
56. Citi Bank • Headed by Pramit Jhaveri, Citi bank is a subsidiary of Citigroup, a multinational financial services corporation headquartered in New York City, United States. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India • It started its operations in 1902 in Kolkata and today is the largest direct investor in financial services in India. • As of 2012, Citibank India has been recognized as the 'Best Consumer Internet Bank in India' by Global Finance four years in a row, and has received the 'Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Bank' Award for two years in a row.
57. JP MORGAN CHASE • The firm's roots in India date back to 1922, when J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York and Morgan Grenfell, its affiliated partnership in London, took an ownership interest in the Calcutta merchant banking firm of Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. J.P. Morgan had ambitions to start a banking business in India as early as 1902, and Morgan Grenfell had begun extending credit to Yule & Co. in 1911. • Chase National Bank opened its first representative office in Mumbai in 1945. Mumbai is one of J.P. Morgan's largest locations outside of the U.S. and serves as a regional hub. • JP Morgan considers India as one of its most important hubs. . The lines of business include the Investment Bank, the Global Corporate Bank, Private Equity, Asset Management and Treasury and Securities Services.
58. HSBC INDIA • HSBC's origins in India date back to 1853, when the Mercantile Bank of India was established in Mumbai. The Bank has since, steadily grown in reach and service offerings, keeping pace with the evolving banking and financial needs of its customers. • In India, the Bank offers a comprehensive suite of world-class products and services to its corporate and commercial banking clients as also to a fast growing personal banking customer base. • The following are some of the entities of HSBC in India • HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited • HSBC Software Development (India) Private Limited • The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited • HSBC Asset Management (India) Private Limited • HSBC Global Resourcing / HSBC Electronic Data Processing (India) Private Limited
59. Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank in India is a fully integrated financial services provider to Indian corporate, institutional and individual clients. DB's services include on-shore investment banking, institutional equities broking, asset and private wealth management, retail banking and business processes outsourcing. Deutsche Bank established its first branch in India in 1980. It has operating branches in 15 cities. DB has been recognized with the following awards 2009 2008 2008 2008 2008 2007 Best Sub-Custodian India Best Bank in India Best Equity House in India Best Cash Management Specialist Best Private Bank in India Financial Express Award for Growth The Asset The Asset The Asset The Asset Asia money Financial Express
60. Technological developments in Indian Banking Industry
61. • Information technology is one of the most important facilitators for the transformation of the Indian banking industry in terms of its transactions processing as well as for various other internal systems and processes. • The technological evolution of the Indian banking industry has been largely directed by the various committees set up by the RBI and the government of India to review the implementation of technological change. No major breakthrough in technology implementation was achieved by the industry till the early 80s. • The early 1980s were instrumental in the introduction of mechanization and computerization in Indian banks. This was the period when banks as well as the RBI went very slow on mechanization, carefully avoiding the use of 'computers' to avoid resistance from employee unions. However, this was the critical period acting as the icebreaker, which led to the slow and steady move towards large scale technology adoption.
62. Computerization • The process of computerization marked the beginning of all technological initiatives in the banking industry. Computerization of bank branches had started with installation of simple computers to automate the functioning of branches, especially at high traffic branches. Thereafter, Total Branch Automation was in use, which did not involve bank level branch networking, and did not mean much to the customer. • Networking of branches are now undertaken to ensure better customer service. Core Banking Solutions (CBS) is the networking of the branches of a bank, so as to enable the customers to operate their accounts from any bank branch, regardless of which branch he opened the account with. The networking of branches under CBS enables centralized data management and aids in the implementation of internet and mobile banking. Besides, CBS helps in bringing the complete operations of banks under a single technological platform. • CBS implementation in the Indian banking industry is still underway. The vast geographical spread of the branches in the country is the primary reason for the inability of banks to attain complete CBS implementation.
63. Satellite Banking • Satellite banking is an upcoming technological innovation in the Indian banking industry, which is expected to help in solving the problem of weak terrestrial communication links in many parts of the country. • The use of satellites for establishing connectivity between branches will help banks to reach rural and hilly areas in a better way, and offer better facilities, particularly in relation to electronic funds transfers. However, this involves very high costs to the banks
64. Automatic Teller Machines • ATMs were introduced to the Indian banking industry in the early 1990s initiated by foreign banks. Most foreign banks and some private sector players suffered from a serious handicap at that time- lack of a strong branch network. • ATM technology was used as a means to partially overcome this handicap by reaching out to the customers at a lower initial and transaction costs and offering hassle free services. Since then, innovations in ATM technology have come a long way and customer receptiveness has also increased manifold.
65. Internet Banking • Internet banking in India began taking roots only from the early 2000s. Internet banking services are offered in three levels. The first level is of a bank's informational website, wherein only queries are handled; the second level includes Simple Transactional Websites, which enables customers to give instructions, online applications and balance enquiries. Under Simple Transactional Websites, no fund based transactions are allowed to be conducted. Internet banking in India has reached level three, offering Fully Transactional Websites, which allow for fund transfers and various value added services. • Internet banking poses high operational, security and legal risks. This has restrained the development of internet banking in India. The guidelines governing internet banking operations in India covers a number of technological, security related and legal issues to be addressed in relation to internet banking
66. Phone Banking and Mobile Banking • Phone and mobile banking are a fairly recent phenomenon for the Indian banking industry. Phone banking channels function through an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) or tele banking executives of the banks. • The transactions are limited to balance enquiries, transaction enquiries, stop payment instructions on cheques and funds transfers of small amounts (per transaction limit of Rs 2500, overall cap of Rs 5000 per day per customer). • With the rapidly growing mobile penetration in the country, mobile banking has the potential to become a mass banking channel, with very minimum investment required by the banks. However, more security issues need to be addressed before banking can be conducted more freely via this channel.
67. Electronic Funds Transfer Systems • The EFT System was operationalised in 1995 covering 15 centers where the Reserve Bank managed the clearing houses. • Special EFT (SEFT) scheme was introduced with effect from April 1, 2003, in order to increase the coverage of the scheme and to provide for quicker funds transfers. • A new variant of the EFT called the National EFT (NEFT) was a nation wide retail electronic funds transfer mechanism between the networked branches of banks. NEFT provided for integration with the Structured Financial Messaging Solution (SFMS) of the Indian Financial Network (INFINET). As the NEFT system stabilized over time, the number of settlements in NEFT was increased from the initial two to six. NEFT now provides six settlement cycles a day and enables funds transfer to the beneficiaries account on T+0 basis, bringing it closer to real time settlement. • The commencement of NEFT led to discontinuation of SEFT, and EFT is now available only for government payments. Using the NEFT infrastructure, a one-way remittance facility from India to Nepal has also been implemented by the RBI since 15th May 2008. • In order to increase the coverage of NEFT to a wider section of bank customers in semi-urban and rural areas, an enhancement of the NEFT called the NEFT-X [National EFT (Extended)] is also proposed for phase wise implementation. This would facilitate non-networked branches of banks to transfer funds electronically by accessing NEFT-enabled branches for transfer of funds. NEFT (Extended) would work on a T+1 basis and would ensure wide rural coverage of the electronic funds transfer system.
68. Innovation in the Banking Industry Biometric ATM's • These ATMs use the finger print of the card holder or eye retina scan as a PIN for verification purpose • Banks are more focused to put these ATMs in rural areas because biometrics makes it possible for the low literacy population to use banks M-Pesa • M-pesa is a mobile-phone based money transfer and micro financing service, which allows users with a national ID to use their money easily with a mobile • Vodafone is expected to launch M-pesa in India, in association with ICICI & HDFC bank Plastic Money • Plastic money, cash cards, credit/debit cards and polymer notes will boom as the e-commerce space boom in India and people get used to the idea of carrying less cash • Many cards have a micro chip embedded in them which makes it a transit card also Virtual Banking • This technology will have a deep impact on the lives of professionals who believe in the life-on-the-go approach • A user can have access to his/her bank accounts at a nominal cost and at a fast speed from anywhere in the world
69. Analysis of Indian Banking Industry
70. Porter Analysis for Banking Industry
71. PEST Analysis on Banking Industry Factors Affecting the Industry Political Factors Economic Factors • Monetary Policy • Regulatory Framework • Budget & Budget measures • Change in interest rates • More savings • More Capital Formation • Increase in GDP • Banking Channels Social Factors Technological Factors • Increase in population • Changes in lifestyle • Easy way of lending money • Exploring banking facilities in rural areas • Internet Banking • IT Services & Mobile Banking • Credit Cards • Improvement in efficiencies
72. Growth Drivers of the Banking Industry High growth of Indian Economy & Favorable Demographics • Growth of infrastructure, industry, services and agriculture is expected to grow corporate credit of the economy • Nearly 35% of the Indian population has a median age of 25.5 years which signifies that India will gain its demographic dividend Financial Inclusion (FI) • Given that 40% of Indians lack access even to the simplest kind of formal financial services, the RBI on July 2011, mandated banks to allocate at least 25% of the total number of branches proposed to be opened in unbanked rural sector • Banks considering FI as a banking opportunity rather than a Regulatory obligation are likely to see long term profitable growth and a cushion against market volatility Private Banking & Wealth Management Technology Innovation • India not only enjoys a favorable demographic dividend but also has a strong population of High Net worth Individuals (HNWI) • Given the improved performance of the equity markets in 2013 & increasing affluence beyond urban and metro areas the number of HNWIs is expected to rise further, HNWIS will continue to demand better or more sophisticated service • New channels in banking services such as internet banking, mobile banking have increased productivity and help in acquiring new customers • As per a survey conducted by PwC, today banks spend 15% of the total expenditure on technology today
73. Opportunities in the Banking Sector • Mortgage to cross Rs 40 lakh crores by 2020 • Wealth Management to be a big business • Rapid growth of branches & ATMs • Mobile banking to see huge growth • Infrastructure financing to reach over Rs 20 trillion on commercial banks book by 2020 • New Models to serve the small & Medium Enterprises (SME)
74. Re-orientation recommendations for Global Standards • On tap licensing as compared to a block licensing approach to enhance competition and bring in new ideas and variety into the system and Allowing banks for niche segments to take care of specialized banking needs through differentiated licensing. • Creating three or four global sized banks to have a global presence through consolidation among large public and private sector banks (on a voluntary basis), keeping in view the need for competition within the domestic banking sector and avoiding complex structures. • Encouraging investment banks/investment banking activities. • Encouraging inclusion to reach out to the excluded and under-banked regions. Small banks at the bottom of the tiered structure may be the preferred vehicle for these objectives to facilitate financial inclusion. • Enhancing the regulatory and supervisory regimes with increased intensity of supervision for the systemically important banks. • Converting urban co-operative banks which meet the necessary criteria into commercial banks or local area banks/small banks. • Enhancing the presence of foreign banks to stimulate competition and their subsidiarisation from the perspective of financial stability.
75. Challenges Faced by Indian Banking Industry • Management of Risks • Increasing NPAs • Introduction of Basel III Norms in April 2013 • Licensing Requirements • Market Discipline and Transparency • Human Resource Management • Financial Inclusion • Employees' Retention • Customer Retention • Intensifying Competition • Social and Ethical Concerns
76. The Banking Outlook In 2014 With the Banking laws (Amendment) Bill cleared on 20th December 2012 in RajyaSabha, it is likely that the RBI may issue 3-4 licenses within the next 12 months NBFCs like PFC, L&T finance, Shriram group as well as some corporate group (Reliance, Tata etc.) have applied for the banking licenses New Entrants in the space may result in price based competition on deposits, loans and human resources and some M&A among the small private banks In order to scale up operations rapidly, smaller private banks with larger distribution networks might be the possible targets of the new banks for e.g. Federal Bank, Karur Bank, Dhanalaxmi Bank
77. Thank You
Gamification for Interactive Learning
Elearning Techniques: Visual Design
Office 365: PowerPoint Essential Training
Indian Banking Sector
Siddhant Jain
How To Use Prezi for Presentation that Rocks!
Celeste Cruz
Buying quality electronic products from pc richards
Pcrichards
Banking sector in India
sujit kumar
Indian Banking Industry Overview - 2013
valliappan1991
Ena Verma
SBI Introduction


text:
namespace BookFast.Facility.Client.Models
{
    using Microsoft.Rest;
    using Newtonsoft.Json;
    using System.Collections;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;

    public partial class UpdateAccommodationCommand
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Initializes a new instance of the UpdateAccommodationCommand class.
        /// </summary>
        public UpdateAccommodationCommand()
        {
            CustomInit();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Initializes a new instance of the UpdateAccommodationCommand class.
        /// </summary>
        public UpdateAccommodationCommand(string name, int? accommodationId = default(int?), string description = default(string), int? roomCount = default(int?), IList<string> images = default(IList<string>))
        {
            AccommodationId = accommodationId;
            Name = name;
            Description = description;
            RoomCount = roomCount;
            Images = images;
            CustomInit();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// An initialization method that performs custom operations like setting defaults
        /// </summary>
        partial void CustomInit();

        /// <summary>
        /// </summary>
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accommodationId")]
        public int? AccommodationId { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// </summary>
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "name")]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// </summary>
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "description")]
        public string Description { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// </summary>
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "roomCount")]
        public int? RoomCount { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// </summary>
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "images")]
        public IList<string> Images { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Validate the object.
        /// </summary>
        /// <exception cref="ValidationException">
        /// Thrown if validation fails
        /// </exception>
        public virtual void Validate()
        {
            if (Name == null)
            {
                throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.CannotBeNull, "Name");
            }
            if (Name != null)
            {
                if (Name.Length > 100)
                {
                    throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.MaxLength, "Name", 100);
                }
                if (Name.Length < 3)
                {
                    throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.MinLength, "Name", 3);
                }
            }
            if (Description != null)
            {
                if (Description.Length > 1000)
                {
                    throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.MaxLength, "Description", 1000);
                }
                if (Description.Length < 0)
                {
                    throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.MinLength, "Description", 0);
                }
            }
            if (RoomCount > 20)
            {
                throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.InclusiveMaximum, "RoomCount", 20);
            }
            if (RoomCount < 0)
            {
                throw new ValidationException(ValidationRules.InclusiveMinimum, "RoomCount", 0);
            }
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
reconsidering love
reconsidering
verb Present participle of reconsider.
The Christians say "it must be assumed" that this would be someone's purpose in reconsidering the demise of Lochner.
IsThatLegal?
To the extent that the court and the convening authority differ as to a question which is solely one of law, such as whether the charges allege an offense cognizable by a court-martial, the court will accede to the views of the convening authority; but if the matters as to which the convening authority disagrees are issues of fact, such as those which may be presented on an objection to trial on the ground that the accused lacks the requisite mental capacity at the time of trial (120c), the court will exercise its sound discretion in reconsidering the motion.
It can also bring a new audience to a canon worth reconsidering, which is what seems to be happening on Tony Zajkowski's take on the Carole King-Maurice Sendak collaboration, "Pierre."
Llamas, Losers: Yesterday Once More ��� Godspeed You Black Emperor!: The Insiders
But the Greens and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon also lent some support to the notion of reconsidering the spending.
Latest News - Yahoo!7 News
The Sydney Morning Herald News Headlines
Creedon said the idea of reconsidering a Water Commission vote has "never been investigated," but that the commission will be glad to take suggestions from council members and residents.
The Enterprise Home RSS
Either too many hits or, more likely, he is "reconsidering" his opinion.
Steamed at this Punk
Late Update: The New York Times reported on Saturday that Voinovich and Dole are "reconsidering" their opposition to the Webb measure, and the paper throws another name in for good measure, reporting that Senator Arlen Specter may back it. print share
Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Source: Republican Senators Eyeing Support For Webb Troop Measure
As reported below, GOP Senator John Warner is "reconsidering" his support for fellow Senator Jim Webb's troop bill.
Webb To Fellow Senators: Please Support More Rest For Troops
The Financial Post is reporting that the potential ownership group is "reconsidering" the $40 million franchise fee.
Vancouver (maybe) waffling on MLS fee
rhymes (1)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


MANCHESTER UNITED have reportedly not given up hope on signing Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid this summer.
The France striker was repeatedly linked with a move to Old Trafford as the transfer window approached.
Last month he said there was a "six" out of ten chance he would head to the Premier League.
But since then, Diego Simeone's side lost their appeal on a transfer ban they sustained for irregularities over the recruitment of underage players.
That means they won't be able to register any new signings until January.
And Griezmann declared he'd be sticking around in Spain as a result of the ruling as he didn't want to leave his club in a tough spot.
But now ESPN claim United haven't given up on signing the star striker.
They reckon Jose Mourinho's side could still make a move for the 26-year-old if the Red Devils fail to land their other attacking targets, such as Everton's Romelu Lukaku and Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata.
It had been assumed that Griezmann would be heading to United should they qualify for the Champions League next season, something they achieved by winning the Europa League against Ajax last month.
But it would seem his loyalty to the club that's allowed him to become a global star has put his transfer plans on hold.
Starsport understand Mourinho's No.1 transfer target remains Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.


Dr. Paige Hatcher arrived at St. Luke Physician Clinic in October, and with a couple of months under her belt, she doesn't have to think about what has surprised her the most.
"People are sicker than I expected," she said.
She sees many patients with a variety of ailments — not a "sleepy little town." That makes the job both challenging and rewarding, Hatcher said. It also makes her work interesting.
"I tell people, 'It's not good to be interesting to doctors,'" Hatcher said.
Hatcher took the job in Marion after working in Portland, Ore., since completing medical school at the University of Kansas in 2009. She completed her residency at a large teaching hospital, then worked at a "safety net" clinic for the uninsured.
Her specialties are in family and preventive medicine. She also has a master's degree in public health. Hatcher sees patients at St. Luke Physician Clinic four days a week and takes emergency room call at St. Luke Hospital.
She thinks the match with St. Luke is good for both sides.
Hatcher grew up in Haven, where her mother ran a clinic and her stepfather was a paramedic on the ambulance crew.
Despite that background, she fought her inclination to go into the medical field when she first went to Wichita State University. She wanted to be a band director, but her friends and mentors urged her to enter the pre-med program.
Not wanting to give up her musical interest, she worked with the Woodland United Methodist Church choir in Wichita to pay her way through school. She has also gotten involved with church music since arriving in Marion.
Hatcher also bought a house on the south edge of Marion, and she plans to grow a massive garden in the spring, provided deer don't eat all of her plants. She said there are usually a dozen deer in her yard any given evening.


text:
import jwt

# algorithm set to None
jwt.encode(payload, "somekey", None)

# empty key
jwt.encode(payload, key="", algorithm="HS256")


text:
Three charter school bills pass, more work still needed
Senators closed out this month's session today by passing a trio of bills, all related to the operation of Academy Charter Schools.
Sen. Jim Moylan's bill to allow prospective charter schools to choose which option to apply for passed by a 12 to 2 margin. Operators can decide if they want to convert an existing Guam Department of Education facility or build a new one. Previously, the law limited the number of non-converted schools to 3, out of the 7 that are authorized.
Senators also passed a pair of bills by Vice Speaker Telena Nelson. One establishes the budgetary and organizational processes for charter schools, independent of GDOE. It also establishes a separate funding source and sets tuition amounts based on the number of student enrollees, multiplied by the per-pupil cost.
The other measure sets up the requirements for accreditation, and what a school must do if it's placed on probation for not achieving accreditation. Nelson's Bills passed unanimously.
Respectively, Bills 57, 106 and 107 address the approval process, the separation of the budgetary and organizational process of charters from GDOE, and finally their timeline for accreditation and renewal. Chief Operations Officer for iLearn Academy Helen Nishihira says that they support the bills, particularly Bill 107 as she says her school is up for renewal.
"Current law states that the charter has a five-year life span and then is able to renew," she said. "And so with the current law we should be in the process of renewing but we don't have a sitting council that's able to even look into our renewal process. So by passing (Bill) 107 that would give iLearn another year for the council to convene and go through the renewal process. So that's our biggest concern right now, renewal."
Nishihira says there are currently three sitting council members, the former Chair Amanda Blas, stepped down last month. The council needs four members for a quorum. Without a quorum and possibly no GDOE, no action can be taken.
"That was the biggest concern," she said. "With GDOE not in play what would the accountability look like for us? But with GDOE out of the process then that would remove one layer of bureaucracy... so it's a catch 22."
Sen. Taitague agrees that there needs to be a system of accountability in Bill 106. But she says that adding an amendment would require another public hearing.
"I understand the importance of the legislation to push through... I mean we're almost into a school year," the senator said. "We only have a couple months to go and the support by DOE for Bill 106 and 107 was a good indicator that they feel it (charter schools) should be on its own and not under DOE."
The senator says although she feels Bill 106 puts the cart before the horse, she's supported it since she is proposing a bill to address accountability by hiring an executive director to work with the charter school council. Taitague's support for charter schools is based on her support for school choice.
"I think a choice is important for everybody," she said. "You're looking at what the public is wanting, the parents are wanting for their children and complying with them."


text:
In digital campaign ads, Murphy talks Trump, Ciattarelli cites crime
By: Nikita Biryukov - August 12, 2021 7:01 am
New Jersey's gubernatorial candidates have embraced divergent digital advertising strategies in the aftermath of June's primary, with challenger Jack Ciattarelli aiming to boost his name recognition while dinging Gov. Phil Murphy, who has kept his own online spots geared to message testing almost exclusively.
The Republican challenger has focused much of his messaging on crime, masking, and the incumbent's treatment of women during his 2017 campaign. Murphy's campaign is tying the former assemblyman to Donald Trump and highlighting his opponent's stance on vaccines.
Ciattarelli has adopted larger buys with greater reach in a bid to introduce himself to the broader pool of general election voters and drive up Murphy's negatives.
The Republican has made eight separate purchases on Facebook-owned platforms worth between $8,600 and $10,392 since the June 8 primary, according to a New Jersey Monitor analysis of Facebook Ad Library data.
Most of those purchases are relatively costly, running between $400 and $2,000, and often draw hundreds of thousands of impressions. Facebook's Ad Library presents spending and impressions figures in ranges.
Few of the challenger's purchases went toward boosting produced ads, though he made two buys for four spots attacking Murphy on crime and taxes in early July and another crime spot on Monday.
Four of his purchases boosted "Jack Chats" on unemployment, LGBT curricula required under a recent state law, masks, and the incumbent's record on women.
The latter highlighted issues of harassment and an allegation of sexual assault during the governor's 2017 campaign and was the Ciattarelli campaign's only digital buy to target women. Nearly 100% of individuals shown that ad were women.
Men accounted for a majority of viewers for the Republican's other spots, though they never accounted for more than 63% of the audience for a given post.
Ciattarelli came into the race with low name recognition. A Rutgers/Eagleton poll released in early June found just 23% of registered voters had an opinion of the challenger. A Farleigh Dickinson University poll released later that month found 70% registered voters didn't know enough about the Somerset County Republican to form an opinion.
Murphy's campaign has made a far larger amount of purchases, though the overwhelming bulk cost less than $100 and had far less reach than ads run by the Republican.
The lone exception was a series of three purchases made on June 21 collectively worth as much as $2,098. Those buys boosted a produced ad that sought to tie Ciattarelli to Trump and served as the campaign's opening message for the general election. The governor kept to that tack in July, when his campaign launched 34 ads across eight buys hitting the Republican for his appearance at a "Stop the Steal" rally in December.
Murphy's strategy changed in August, when the campaign turned its targeting toward New Jersey's women.
The Democrat is seeking a second term in November.
Murphy has, so far, made only four digital buys this month. Those span six individual ads — four attacking Ciattarelli over his support for broadening a religious vaccination exemption and two highlighting a Bloomberg op-ed on New Jersey's glowing position in the bond market and the state's recent $5.8 billion pension payment.
The August ads overwhelmingly target women. They accounted for the lion's share of the viewers on the two Bloomberg spots and two of the posts attacking Ciattarelli's stance on vaccines.
Ciattarelli takes the edge in recent spending, having put $1,832 behind digital spots between Aug. 2 and Aug. 8. Murphy spent just $177 during the same period.

In digital campaign ads, Murphy talks Trump, Ciattarelli cites crime

by Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor
August 12, 2021


text:
For the game show braintrust
May. 21st, 2005 at 7:02 PM
When did Bert Convy host Match Game '90?
game shows,
May. 22nd, 2005 02:08 am (UTC)
Uh...1990?
Maybe Gene was sick so they had Bert do it that year?
Match Game 90 was regularly hosted by Ross Shafer, but I just saw a blooper with Bert hosting it, and it caught me as odd. Thus the question.
But thanks anyway!
Just the pilot ep.
Ah. Weird that they included a pilot in the show, but then again, there was Sajak fiasco there too...
carboncpy
Well, that wasn't the only one. They had "I'm With Stupid," too.
My answer: sometime before he died. *nods*
That's one of those "Who are four people who have never been in my kitchen?" things, isn't it?
Ummm.. sure :)
2ndavemusic
I guess that means I forgot to watch the special.
Plenty of showtimes for the first one still left.
May. 23rd, 2005 01:09 pm (UTC)
Sweet! Thanks.
(I really am stuck in alongtimeagoland, where shows ran once and were forgotten.)
You know, I was just wondering something. I could've sworn the other day I saw a clip of Jeff Probst hosting Jeopardy!, but my mother, game show fan that she says, says I'm nuts and that Alex Trebek has hosted every ep since its reincarnation.
So, has Jeff Probst ever been a substitute host on Jeopardy!?
Probst was host of Rock & Roll Jeopardy!, made by GSN for VH1.
May. 22nd, 2005 11:59 pm (UTC)
Oh. That must have been what I saw a clip of once, then.
lifewithmikey
May. 23rd, 2005 04:37 am (UTC)
I remember reading one of your game show friends' pages about that one April Fools Day episode in which Pat Sajak switched shows with Alex Trebek.
Was GSMGB actually any good, on balance? (Any non-US stuff?)
Quite a bit of Family Fortunes and Distraction footage was used. One Family Fortunes clip must've been from the show's early days, easily 20 years old.
Overall, I thought it was good. I've already told the TiVo to season pass the entire run.
Thanks. That's what I had feared.
2ndavemusic : (no subject) [+2]


Two years away from the launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), international experts gather in Paris to kick off the preparatory activities.
Nineteen experts from diverse fields in ocean science, technology, policy, management and advocacy met at UNESCO from 17-19 December during the first meeting of the Executive Planning Group (EPG) of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). A ten-year framework to foster scientific research and technological innovation toward a healthier, more sustainable ocean. The Decade of Ocean Science was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 2017, and is set to begin officially in 2021.
UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) called the first meeting of the EPG to brainstorm on scientific, governance, communications, and engagement elements of the Decade ahead of a first Global Planning Meeting and a series of regional consultations that will channel stakeholders' inputs into the preparatory process.
Mobilizing knowledge for action will require in particular a radical transformation of how we do science, including through the development of more interdisciplinary approaches that take into account the close interconnection between the various ocean stressors.
Beyond the scientific process itself, there was wide consensus within the Group that the Decade must also transform how nations around the world invest in ocean science, both from the public and private sectors, and how decisions-makers use the available scientific knowledge to make better-informed policies for ocean management.
According to EPG Member Ricardo Serrão Santos from Portugal, a marine scientist and Member of the European Parliament, the Decade must capitalize on the wealth of existing knowledge and data that may not be feeding decision-making processes at present. As scientists continue to fill knowledge gaps, existing knowledge can begin to foster ocean action via the science-policy interface.
"While we have a remarkable body of [ocean] knowledge, we need help figuring out from public psychologies how do we get people to be focusing more on what we know needs to be done," added Craig McLean, Assistant Administrator of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Through hours of brainstorming, the EPG sought to lay out the basis for an effective strategy to communicate the objectives of the Decade, engage stakeholders, and ultimately influence behaviors and perceptions of scientists, decision-makers and the public around the value of ocean science for sustainable development.
"The Decade gives us the opportunity to look outward for what the oceans can do for our planet and the people in it," emphasized Margaret Leinen, Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, highlighting the important role of ocean literacy in the overall Decade strategy.
Defined as an understanding of the ocean's influence on you, and your influence on the ocean, the concept of ocean literacy is gaining momentum across the international community as a tool to not only raise awareness of the importance of the ocean to society, but more broadly to create a public demand for ocean action from ocean-minded citizens.
All the EPG members agreed that capacity development and the transfer of marine technology also need to be a key and cross-cutting priority, embedded deep into the planning process. Jens Kruger from the Pacific Community reminded the Group of the lack and sometimes absence of marine scientific capacities in the South Pacific.
IOC Chair Peter Haugan argued vehemently that, given its universalist approach, the Decade of Ocean Science must be fundamentally about leaving no one behind. It must ensure all countries can benefit from the ocean and use its resources to support sustainable development.
"Many developing countries still struggle with doing the very basic analysis of samples, even obtaining samples and knowledge from the ocean. I would like to see that everybody has the capacity to get better knowledge from the ocean so that we can more effectively predict its future," further noted Elva Escobar Briones, from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Throughout the next two years, EPG members will work in coordination with the IOC Secretariat to process into a draft Implementation Plan for the Decade the many stakeholder inputs coming from the various global and regional consultations.


Peer evaluation is increasingly used as a method to assess physicians' interpersonal and communication skills. We report on experience with soliciting registered nurses' feedback on physicians' non-clinical performance in the ED of a large academic medical center in Lebanon.
We utilized a secondary analysis of a de-identified database of ED nurses' assessment of physicians' non-clinical performance coupled with an evaluation of interventions carried out as a result of this evaluation. The database was compiled as part of quality/performance improvement initiatives using a cross-sectional design to survey registered nurses working at the ED. The survey instrument included open ended and closed ended questions assessing physicians' communication, professionalism and leadership skills. Three episodes of evaluation were carried out over an 18 month period. Physicians were provided with a communication training carried out after the first cycle of evaluation and a detailed feedback on their assessment by nurses after each evaluation cycle. A paired t-test was carried out to compare mean evaluation scores between the three cycles of evaluation. Thematic analysis of nurses' qualitative comments was carried out.
A statistically significant increase in the averages of skills was observed between the first and second evaluations, followed by a significant decrease in the averages of the three skills between the second and third evaluations. Personalized feedback to ED physicians and communication training initially contributed to a significant positive impact on improving ED physicians' non-clinical skills as perceived by the ED nurses. Yet, gains achieved were lost upon reaching the third cycle of evaluation. However, the thematic analysis of the nurses' qualitative responses portrays a decrease in concerns across the various dimensions of non-clinical performance.
Nurses' evaluation of the non-clinical performance of physicians has the potential of improving communication, professionalism and leadership skills amongst physicians. For improvement to be realized in a sustainable manner, such programs may need to be offered in a staged and incremental manner over a long period of time with proper dedication of resources and timely monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. Department directors need to be trained on providing peer evaluation feedback in a constructive manner.
The drive for quality, safety and accountability has historically focused the attention of health systems and professional organizations on the assessment and improvement of physicians' clinical performance [1,2]. However, as the clinical care settings become more complex and demanding, effective communication and interpersonal skills surface as essential professional skills that physicians should master. Recent scholarly literature and professional standards have been underscoring the importance of such "soft" skills for physicians, along with sufficient medical knowledge and clinical skills [3-9].
Such changes have been evident in initiatives taken by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), in which physicians' core competencies were expanded to include six main areas: medical knowledge, patient care, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice . This broadening in the concept of competence has been driven by much evidence linking deficiency in the aforementioned non-clinical skills to medical errors and patient harm [3,8,11]. Furthermore, competency in these skills becomes particularly important for Emergency Department (ED) physicians due to the nature of the job and the intensity of the work environment [5,12]. More so, teamwork training has proven effective in reducing clinical errors within the ED setting . For the purpose of this study, and guided by ACGME's requirements for graduate medical education in Emergency Medicine, physicians' non-clinical or nontechnical performance refers to mastery of three main skills: communication, professionalism, and system-based practice/leadership [10,13]. "Communication skills" entail effective communication with patients and their families, as well as other members of the health care team. "Professionalism skills" include the ability to show compassion, responsiveness, respect, accountability openness and sensitivity to patients, their families, the public and other members of the health care team. "System-based practice" entails displaying leadership in delivering health care, working inter-professionally and coordinating patient care with other members of the health care team, as well as ability to identify and rectify system issues and resolving workplace conflict [10,13].
Individual scores of medical knowledge examinations are no longer considered sufficient predictors of "soft", i.e. non-clinical, skills including communication skills [6,14]. In fact, assessing such skills through peer ratings is a better mean to provide practical evaluation of performance in domains which cannot be assessed reliably with other tools . Indeed, valuable data can be collected when peers and coworkers observe physicians, particularly regarding interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and certain aspects of patient care .
Peer assessment methods aimed at examining an individual's work offer a more inclusive reflection of actual performance; feedback is solicited from multiple parties including those at the same level in the organizational chart, those above, and those at lower levels [10,15,16]. Such an assessment could help support employee decision making and quality improvement . It also provides care providers with a synopsis of the way others perceive their performance based on their behavior at work, thus offering them the opportunity to reflect on their own conduct and compare self-perception with peer perception. Such a method of evaluation supports the identification of individuals' strengths and weaknesses, assesses professional relations, improves clinical performance and helps improve their communication approaches with other members of the health care delivery team [6,17-21].
Despite the widespread use of peer evaluation, there remain a number of concerns about its implementation and its validity . For example, some individuals may not change behavior or improve performance after receiving peer feedback , and others may be disheartened upon receiving negative feedback which may result in a negative reaction . In addition, the existence of an authority gradient and status differentiation amongst different types of health care providers might not only affect the quality of patient care but also hinder or bias the peer evaluation process at some institutions . Such findings underscore the importance of scrutinizing the process for soliciting peer evaluations, the means through which feedback was provided and the particular actions taken to act on the outcomes of such evaluations.
In the Middle East Region, peer evaluations of physicians' non-clinical performance is a novel assessment method, as there is deficient knowledge and experience in human performance management . Health care managers and decision makers need to investigate approaches to integrate peer assessment within performance improvement initiatives, while maintaining a healthy and collaborative work environment. In this study, we report on our experience with soliciting registered nurses' feedback on physicians' non-clinical performance in the ED setting of a large academic medical center in Lebanon.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using nurses' assessment of physicians' non-clinical performance in the ED setting?
What have the research team learned in terms of enhancing chances of success and sustainability of remedial interventions?
The setting was the ED of one of the largest academic medical centers in Lebanon employing 32 ED physicians and 82 nursing staff, among which 42 are registered nurses. Three episodes of evaluation were carried out over an 18 month period.
ED management's knowledge and awareness of existing problems within the institution/organization.
An expert panel, including the Director of Clinical Operations, the Director of Quality, the Nurse Manager, the ED Chairperson and an expert in performance improvement, reviewed the draft questionnaire for content validity and applicability to the given context, as well as alignment with ACGME competencies. Upon extensive deliberations, and guided by previous experiences in the organization, the group elected to adopt a short and concise questionnaire representing the three areas: communication (two questions), professionalism (six questions) and leadership (four questions). Note that leadership was used to indicate system-based approach in this manuscript. There was no perceived need to train respondents on how to take the survey as questions were arranged in a simple format, and sufficient instructions were provided on how to respond to the web-based survey. Questions asked nurses to rate physicians' non-clinical performance on a five-point Likert scale (with clear instructions that "1" is the lowest representing poor skills and "5" is the highest representing excellent skills). For example: "Based on your experience in dealing with physician X in the ED setting, how do you rate: 1- the physician's ability to communicate with patients and families".
The final survey was divided into two parts. A quantitative part in which nurses assess ED physicians': 1- communication skills (including communication with patients, families and other members of the health care team), 2- professional skills (including courtesy, approachability, responsiveness, compassion, timeliness and availability), and 3- leadership (including engaging other members of the health care team, effectively managing patient care, effectiveness in resolving conflict and leadership skills in codes). This section also included an evaluation of the physicians' communication and interpersonal skills with patients, patients' families, and coworkers. The qualitative part of the survey included one open-ended question asking for nurses' feedback or concerns in regards to the non-clinical performance of evaluated physicians. Prior to dissemination, the survey was pilot tested with five randomly selected nurses (subsequently excluded from the study) to ensure clarity and solicit feedback. Necessary amendments were introduced based on the outcomes of this pilot testing.
Surveys were administered electronically using a web-based surveying system. They were sent to ED nurses that had worked at least two years at the hospital's ED. Nurses were asked not to complete the survey if they work, on average, less than two shifts per month with the evaluated physician. The list of nurses was given by the ED Nurse Manager. The individual nurse responses were completely anonymous with no possibility of tracing back answers to the individual respondent.
Three evaluations were performed in May 2012, January 2013 and December 2013, separating the first evaluation by 6 months from the second one, and a year and a half from the third. The initial plan was to conduct these evaluations bi-annually; however, due to the time restrictions and scarcity of human resources, it was decided to be done yearly. A total of 27, 33 and 28 nurses were asked to evaluate 20, 21 and 23 physicians for the first, second and third round of evaluation, respectively. A total of 349 (first cycle), 255 (second cycle) and 304 (third cycle) individual nurse responses were received. The response rates were 77.7%, 46.3% and 53.6%, respectively, taking into consideration all filled surveys from the total number of surveys sent. Nurses were given up to four weeks to complete the questionnaire and were reminded via email twice during that period. It is worth mentioning that 17 physicians were evaluated in all three rounds of evaluation.
The timeline of evaluations and interventions carried out.
Providing ED physicians with a detailed feedback on the assessment of nurses (with no identifiers) of their non-clinical performance: Sharing peer assessment feedback has been shown to be helpful and has reportedly been associated with favorable transformations in performance [10,20]. Each of the ED physicians was invited to a personal meeting with the Chairperson of the ED and was provided with an anonymous summary of the nurses' evaluation of his/her performance. In all cycles, the Chairperson of the ED reviewed that metric as well as the nursing comments in person with the individual physician, listened to the physician's feedback, reviewed expectations and developed an action plan for improvement with the physician. Prior to sharing the evaluations with the individual physician, the Chairperson of the ED and the Director of Professional Practice Development reviewed the evaluations and removed all derogatory/strongly offensive language from the open-ended text. The quantitative analysis was included as a performance metric within the ongoing physician performance evaluation record while the additional comments were placed on a separate sheet that was not part of the permanent record. The expert panel and the research team concurred that deleting offensive and derogatory comments and placing qualitative comments outside physicians' performance records would help avoid insulting physicians which could reflect negatively on the work environment and would contradict the purpose of this intervention.
A communication training workshop carried out after the first cycle of evaluation: Literature has shown that such interventions that incorporate communication skills training have resulted in positive impacts, and acquired skills have been integrated into practice post intervention [3,25]. The ED hired an external consultant to deliver communication training to ED physician and nursing staff. In December, 2012, three four-hour training sessions were delivered to equally mixed groups of nurses, physicians and multi-functional technicians. The sessions covered basic communication and conflict resolution training as well as application of covered concepts through role plays of ED-based scenarios. A total 19/21 (90%) physicians and 58/69 (84%) nursing staff attended the sessions.
The rating scale used in the quantitative section of the survey involved five ordered response levels from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). A paired t-test was carried out to compare the mean scores of performance on communication skills, professional skills and leadership skills, between the three cycles of evaluation. Time period since training completion and duration of appointment at ED were treated as continuous variables.
A thematic analysis was conducted for data collected in this section. The nurses' comments were reviewed and analyzed for recurrent themes. Results were then communicated to physicians during the provision of feedback to improve physicians' leadership and management competencies.
Table 1 presents a detailed description of the physicians' personal and professional characteristics. The majority of the ED physicians are males (81.5%). As for their professional characteristics, most of these physicians are not specialized in Emergency Medicine (77.8%), are employed as part-timers (74.1%), and work during the day (70.4%). The physicians working in the ED are almost equally divided between the three sections: high acuity (29.6%), low acuity (29.6%) and mixed acuity (22.2%); with pediatrics constituting 18.5%. More than half of the evaluated physicians (55.6%) completed their post-residency/fellowship training in Lebanon. In addition, more than three quarters completed residency training after year 2000, with almost 60% completed during the past four years. As for appointment date, the majority of the physicians were appointed during the past three years (70.4%), with only 7.4% working at the ED for more than 10 years.
A paired t-test was carried out to compare the mean scores of physicians' performance across the three cycles of evaluation. As Table 2 displays, the scores in the second cycle were higher than that in the first cycle on the three dimensions of non-clinical performance (communication, professionalism and leadership skills), as well as on the overall evaluation. Yet, the difference was statistically significant only for leadership skills (P = 0.005) and overall evaluation (P = 0.001). In contrast, however, the scores in the third cycle of evaluation were significantly lower than that of the second on the three dimensions of non-clinical performance, as well as on the overall evaluation. No significant differences were found between the first and third cycles of evaluation, on the three dimensions and on the overall evaluation.
Note: P-values less than 0.05 are considered significant and are bolded in the Table.
Figure 2 provides a summary of the changes in the overall evaluation of physicians' skills across the three evaluation cycles. As exhibited in the figure, there is a significant increase in the averages of the three skills between the first and second cycles of evaluation (during the period of the first 6 months), followed by a significant decrease in the averages of the three skills between the second and third cycles of evaluation (during the period of the following year). The same trend can be observed for the overall physicians' averages among the three evaluations.
Physicians' change in skills between the three cycles of evaluation.
Thematic analysis of nurses' qualitative remarks reveals that such comments were mainly made to voice specific concerns towards one or more of the evaluated physicians. Note that very few positive comments were made by nurses and that no differences were observed in the frequency of positive comments, as per the thematic analysis, between the three cycles of evaluation.
As Table 3 portrays, the thematic analysis of the qualitative responses provided by nurses across the three cycles of evaluation exposes an overall decrease in concerns and negative comments across the various dimensions of non-clinical performance, most remarkably, across the "management of ED patients", "courtesy and professionalism", "approachability" and "engaging patients in plan of care" dimensions.
Analysis of the quantitative data collected from the nurses evaluations of ED physicians revealed that evaluation scores on all three dimensions of non-clinical performance witnessed an improvement between the date of Evaluation 1 (May 2012) and Evaluation 2 (January 2013). The first cycle of evaluation served as a baseline assessment after which two interventions were introduced: individualized feedback to ED physicians and a communication training program offered to ED providers. Providing highly skilled individuals, such as ED physicians, with feedback on performance requires considerable skill and experience in human performance appraisal in order to ensure that such an exercise would result in performance improvement instead of putting the physicians on the defensive or increasing their anger with the nurses that work with them [6,10,26,27]. Engaging physicians in the implementation process of nursing-evaluation from feedback on surveys and selection of nurse eligibility criteria for participation is essential for subsequent willingness of physicians to receiving the feedback. In addition, it is highly recommended for clinical settings that would like to embark on peer evaluation exercises to train their Chairs and Directors on the appropriate skills and communication techniques that would empower them to skillfully provide their staff with transparent feedback. This is while maintaining a collaborative work environment and avoiding the aforementioned non-intended negative attitude/consequences [10,14,28].
The improvement in the evaluation scores between the first and second evaluation cycles was a temporary result, as evaluation scores during the third evaluation cycle dropped significantly, to reach close to the levels of the first evaluation cycle. Following the second evaluation, no trainings were offered and the only intervention was the offering of individualized feedback. Such findings reflect the short-lived effects that the communication training program had on the non-clinical skills of ED physicians. It appears that the intensity of work at a clinical setting in general, and that of the ED in particular, may have diluted the effects of the introduced interventions, and the acquired desired behavior may have been forgotten or overlooked. Therefore, it becomes evident that refresher/booster courses are necessary to maintain the desired change in the non-clinical skills of providers [12,29]. The sharp decline observed in the third cycle of evaluation could also be attributed to the increasing expectations of nurses for continuous improvement in the non-clinical performance of ED physicians. Clinical Directors and Chairs are encouraged to offer training programs dispersed around the year with continuous feedback from participants on challenges faced in non-clinical performance and the means for the clinical team to overcome them.
Moreover, the timeframe between the first and second evaluation cycles was six months compared to one year between the second and the third. The early reassessment may have helped maintain the performance observed from results of the second evaluation. The time effort involved in evaluating physicians every six months was, however, prohibitive to maintaining this frequency of reassessment. From a management perspective, three key lessons could be learned from this finding. First, human resources performance appraisal is an exercise that requires good planning and dedication of human and financial resources in order to be able to carry it out appropriately and assess improvements in performance, or the lack thereof, in a timely manner . Second, it is imperative to dedicate resources in order to carry out individual or team-based training programs to act on the results of the assessment. Depending on the training and desired behavioral change, such programs may need to be offered in a staged and incremental manner over a long period of time . Therefore, it is important to dedicate such resources in the human resources development plan of the particular department. Last, resources and expertise should also be dedicated for the proper monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of human resources evaluation programs and associated skills and behavioral change interventions .
The thematic analysis of qualitative results reveals an overall decrease in nurses' concerns and comments across many of the dimensions of performance; however, it has to be noted that the number of comments provided was small compared to the large number of participating nurses. Yet, it cannot be ascertained whether nurses' negative comments decreased due to improved physicians' performance or due to them refraining from providing comments because they do not trust that changes will take place. This cannot be ascertained until a formal evaluation is carried out preferably including a qualitative component involving interviews or focus group discussions with nurses.
There are a number of shortcomings in this study that are worth mentioning. First, there is a risk for participation bias since not all nurses invited to complete the peer evaluation of ED physicians agreed to participate. Therefore, it cannot be ascertained whether participating nurses would hold any significantly different views or biased opinions compared to their non-participating counterparts. Having said that, the percentage of participating nurses remains high across the three cycles of evaluation taking into consideration that this is a voluntary online evaluation questionnaire sent to exceptionally busy ED nurses. Second, despite multiple assurances of complete confidentiality by the ED management, there is a risk for social desirability bias by which nurses may have biased their answers in order to please ED physician colleagues or in fear of disclosure. Third, since the nurse identity was protected throughout the study, tracing a nurse's response individually across the three episodes of evaluation was not feasible. Rather, the study team evaluated ED physicians' non-clinical performance through measuring changes in the average evaluation provide by all surveyed nurses, both per physician and for all physicians. Last, the non-experimental cross-sectional nature of the study does not enable the establishment of causality between the peer evaluation process and changes in physicians' non-clinical performance; the data rather points towards certain plausible associations.
Nevertheless, nurses' evaluation of the non-clinical performance of physicians has the potential of improving communication, professionalism and leadership skills amongst physicians. For the effect of such programs to be realized in a sustainable manner, the Chairs of clinical departments need to be trained on providing peer evaluation feedback in a constructive and motivating manner. Additionally, behavioral change programs need to be offered over a long period of time with proper dedication of resources and timely monitoring and evaluation of changes in the attitude and behavior of clinical staff.
The authors wish to thank each and every ED nurse and physician at the Academic Medical Center for their kind participation in this project. Gratitude is also extended to the leadership of the Academic Medical Center for their continuous support and forward thinking. The authors wish also to acknowledge the efforts of Ms. Nour Kik for support with editing and referencing.
MA conceptualized the topic, led data analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. AM helped with the conceptualization of the topic and reviewed the manuscript providing valuable advice. MS helped with data collection and analysis, as well as thoroughly reviewed the manuscript. YM helped with data analysis and thoroughly reviewed the manuscript. RJ contributed to data collection and provided insights into the discussion section. EH conceptualized the topic, led data analysis and contributed to the write up and editing of the manuscript enhancing its rigor and intellectual content. All authors approved of the final submitted version of the manuscript.


Best experience had in Japan: Blowing tons of money at Animate and Harajuku. . .
The tour was nice, but it felt very rushed. There was very little time for shopping, looking around, or even taking pictures. It felt like a "go in, go out" kind of thing. It felt too rushed although I liked the locations we visited, I don't think I got to properly enjoy them. For example, if I hadn't gone to Harajuku before the tour on our free days, I don't think I would've had enough time there on just the tour.
The second hotel went to had a lot of space. Also, we were able to get "no smoking" rooms at all of the hotels.
Both the guide for the anime and the guide for the highlights tour were very nice and helpful.
We went to a variety of locations. We got to see many places and it was very interesting. The bus made for faster, air-conditioned travel.


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I sit and listen to my friends tell me that they can't go on holiday for this reason and that reason, and to be honest if they really, really wanted to escape and see new places they would make it happen. One of the main reasons, no scratch that, one of the main excuses is that they have no one to go with. "Aaaaaand, your point is?" It may sound harsh but if that is really the only thing stopping them from having the time of their life, it definitely shouldn't be!
Saying that, that person used to be me. I spent far too many days waiting and wishing for someone to suggest a weekend away or a week in the sun so I could quench my thirst for adventure, just a little. Then one day I booked a one-way ticket to Argentina and I've never looked back! Yes, it was scary and yes it was insane but that feeling, oh man that feeling of pure freedom and the sense that I could literally do anything and be anyone, was amazing!
I've worked at TrekAmerica for three years now and over the years I've seen first-hand how travel can change your life for the better. It's hard for me to believe that people are really willing to give all that up because their friend has decided to go on holiday with their boyfriend?
Solo travel often gets a bad rep; "it's unsafe", "it's too expensive" and worst of all "you'll get bored" – say what??? Just because you leave the comfort of your own house on your tod does not mean you will be forever alone and bored because you have no friends to talk to.
A friendly face will go a long way when you're out on the open road. I mean would you start speaking to a stranger who looked like a proper grump, I know I wouldn't! Flash that smile and let the friends come rolling in!
You're on your own, you don't have to answer to anyone, enjoy it! If you want to splash your cash on a shopping spree in New York, you can! If you want to embrace your inner kid with a trip to Disneyland, go, and when you get there give Mickey a high five from us!
You've already done the hardest part; you've booked a trip on your own! So stay out of your comfort zone and push yourself even more, you definitely won't regret it!
If you're worried that you'll be lonely on the road without your besties with you, having a list of questions to ask to any new potential friend is handy. This may seem like a no brainer, but trust us, one simple question could lead to one of the best conversations you've ever had and who knows you could have just made a new best friend!
The best way to travel solo is on a group tour. You have all the benefits of choosing your destination, enjoying the freedom of the open road, stepping out of your comfort zone, but you have loads of awesome people to share the adventure with, perfect!
If you're dying to find adventure, and have made the decision to go it alone, let us be your friend on the open road.


text:
The Carbines shake it all night long
Humble Pie, Raleigh, N.C., July 10, 1999
By Andy Turner
RALEIGH, N.C. - If you were trying to explain to someone the difference between mainstream country and alternative country, perhaps this would be a good way: A venue where Billy Ray Cyrus is performing will most likely not play �80's hardcore punk before Billy Ray hits the stage and AC/DC after he makes his exit. However, that's the way it went down before and after Tift Merritt and The Carbines conquered the Humble Pie.
You couldn't help but be taken aback as Merritt stepped up to the mike, fiddled with it for a second, and belted out a pining train song a cappella, an angel's voice immediately silencing your memory of Black Flag's "TV Party" and Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized."
Merritt, clad in a black mini-skirt and red cowboy boots, packed one hell of a voice and presence in a small frame. She could sound as sweet as Emmylou Harris or Maria McKee, as twangy as Kelly Willis or Iris Dement, or as tough as Wanda Jackson or Loretta Lynn � all in one song it seemed.
Although Merritt apologized for playing too many slow songs on a Saturday night, it was hard to complain about songs that showcased a voice that made your insides faint. And she had enough energy, enough hip twisting and toe tapping and guitar slinging to make Dwight Yoakam sweat and blush. Through the course of the band's set, Merritt knocked over her beer several times, broke the strings on two guitars and nearly dropped her guitar when the strap gave while she was trying to poke fun at the pedal steel player.
But what made Merritt's vocals cut even deeper was the solid backing of Margaret White's fiddle and Greg Reading's pedal steel. Their backing was particularly effective on several Carbines' numbers that ventured into hillbilly noir territory, songs that would not be out of place in a David Lynch movie.
The North Carolina-based band played originals like "Jukejoint Girl" and "Cowboy" and covers of Jean Shepard and Loretta Lynn songs with equal ease.
Tift Merritt and The Carbines are guaranteed to shake you all night long..
(The Carbines have yet to release a full-length album, but a 45 of "Jukejoint Girl" and "Cowboy" is available frp, Oil Rig Recordings, PO Box 323, Bynum, NC 27228). An EP featuring Merritt along with John Howie and Two Dollar Pistols is also in the works.)