The ECB cut the cost of borrowing in the 15-nation eurozone by a record 0.75 percentage points.

European central banks took unprecedented action Thursday to ward off a looming recession, slashing their benchmark lending rates to boost business investment and household spending.

The ECB cut the cost of borrowing in the 15-nation eurozone by a record 0.75 percentage points to 2.50 percent as the eurozone faced its first recession while the Bank of England returned Britain to World War II levels with a full point reduction to 2.0 percent.

For the ECB, it was also an unprecedented third rate cut in two months, following a coordinated cut with other central banks on October 8 and another reduction in early November.

“The ECB’s 75 basis point interest rate cut comes as a pleasant surprise after recent hints from governing council members that a 50 basis point cut was more likely,” said Jennifer McKeown at consultants Capital Economics.

In Stockholm, the Swedish central bank set the tone early in the day by nearly halving its key rate by 1.75 percentage points to 2.0 percent to “dampen the fall in production and employment” due to the global financial crisis.

Repeated and sharp central bank cuts have failed so far to unfreeze the interbank lending crucial to business that ground to a halt after the US market for high-risk or subprime mortgages collapsed in mid-2007.

ECB officials had suggested last week they did not want to use up all their rate cutting options too quickly in case the recession drags on and markets had accordingly anticipated a half point cut.

In the event, the ECB clearly recognised “that we are not in ordinary times and that they cannot afford to keep the same range of policy moves,” Bank of America economist Gilles Moec said.

The decision signals that “the best course of action is to go fast and deep, probably on the condition that the relaxation will be quickly taken back as soon as the first signs of recovery appear,” Moec added.

“The ECB’s reluctance to cut by more than 75 basis points seems to stem from a desire to keep some ammunition back and also concern that too big a cut could hurt confidence,” said economist Howard Archer at consultants IHS Global Insight.

The ECB still has ample room for manoeuvre with inflation falling from a record 4.0 percent in July to 2.1 percent last month. It is forecast to drop further as oil and food prices decrease.

The bank’s medium term inflation target is just below 2.0 percent.

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Public sector lender Bank of Baroda today hiked its benchmark prime lending rate (PLR) by 50 basis points to 12.50 per cent.

The hike takes the bank’s PLR from the existing 12 per cent to 12.50 per cent, the bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The hike is with effect from today, the bank said.

Earlier in the week, another lender, IDBI Bank, had hiked its PLR by 0.50 per cent to 13.25 per cent.

A clutch of banks have also upped their deposit rates in recent days while the country’s largest lender State Bank of India’s Chairman O P Bhatt has said that there is an upward bias in deposit rates.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India and Punjab National Bank are amongst the banks that have raised their deposit rates.

The increase in PLR and deposit rates was widely expected after the Reserve Bank of India increased its key short-term rates–repo and reverse repo–on July 27 with a view to combat the prevailing high inflation.

The repo rate was hiked by 0.25 per cent to 5.75 per cent while the reverse repo rate has been upped by 0.50 per cent to 4.5 per cent, sparking-off the present round of hikes by banks.

Here we go again another government attempt to stop foreclosure. With government initiated loan modification programs failing to put a stop to the foreclosure crisis.

Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, told congressional leaders in a letter yesterday that the Fed will seek to renegotiate mortgages it owns that might otherwise enter foreclosure.

It is unclear how many homeowners stand to benefit. Under the program, the Fed can reduce what a homeowner owes on a mortgage, lower the interest rate, lengthen the term of a loan or take other steps to keep a loan from defaulting, if doing so would offer taxpayers a better long-term payoff than foreclosure.

The interesting thing is that this has been going on now for almost a year through reputable loan modification companies.

Scott Jenkins, a homeowner in Irvine CA, worked with Mortgage Modification Legal Network located in California and says. I felt like my mortgage company was giving me the run around and I needed help now. I contacted the Mortgage Modification Legal Network and my mortgage modification was done in 10 days. I truly believe that waiting on the government or federal programs would of landed me in a shelter or even worse.

This latest attempt to help homeowners should be taken with caution. The new policy applies only to mortgages the Fed controls through three companies formed to hold mortgage-related assets it acquired last year from the collapse of investment house Bear Stearns and insurer AIG. Those three companies hold roughly $74 billion in assets. That is only a fraction of the total troubled mortgages and mortgage-backed securities

As in the past government announcements seem to be the lifeline homeowners need to rescue them from foreclosure. Then you look at the fine print. Individual borrowers are unlikely to know whether their mortgages are owned by the Fed, but if they qualify for Loan Modification, they would deal only with their mortgage servicing company.

Trying to figure out if you mortgage is owned by the Fed is more than likely going to be a timely task, something homeowners facing foreclosure can not afford. A loan modification can stop foreclosure and is usually the best option for homeowners. It is recommended that you contact a loan modification attorney for assistance.

The Federal Reserve also announced it will use new tools to stimulate the economy and curb foreclosures. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its benchmark lending rate near zero and said it’s likely to stay that way for some time, while also signaling new efforts to lower home mortgage rates.

The Fed left its target for the fed funds rate unchanged at a range of zero to a quarter-point. This ensures that most consumer lending rates will remain unchanged, too. The Fed promised new steps to boost lending to consumers. It also suggested that it would soon purchase Treasury bonds to decrease other lending rates notably, home mortgage rates and long-term corporate loans.

The Fed has also accepted collateral spurned by private lenders, expanded the kinds of institutions that can borrow from the Fed and extended repayment periods.

All this being said the probability of this having a big impact on the economy and foreclosures is low. A report on Friday is expected to show the economy contracted at a 5.4 percent annual rate in the final three months of last year, which would be the steepest falloff in activity for any quarter since 1982.

SBI loans offer affordable interest rates The State Bank of India (SBI) has been in the business for a long time now. In February this year, it came up with a bumper offer for car loan seekers. SBI loan interest rate was slashed from 11.5 per cent to 10 per cent and lenders were also freed from paying the car loan processing fee for an entire year. Personal loan interest rates at SBI are highly versatile. They let the borrower choose between a fixed interest rate and a floating one. In the former case, the interest rate on the loan remains fixed throughout the tenure. But in the case of a floating rate loan, the interest rate need not remain constant. It could decline or rise, depending upon the changes that the Bank’s Medium Term Lending Rate (SBMTLR) goes through.

A striking feature of SBI that makes it stand out among several others is the fact that the interest is levied based on the daily/monthly reducing balance. While others use the annual reducing balance method, SBI offers an advantage to the customer. He does not have to pay interest on the amounts he keeps repaying. The interest is computed only on the loan amount that is presently outstanding. Since, this figure goes down with every EMI, the effective rate of interest is considerably reduced.

Getting the ICICI Advantage

ICICI Bank is one of the top most approached banks, easily India’s second largest lender. ICICI bank loan interest rates have also been significantly lowered keeping in mind the need of the hour. A 50 basis point reduction in the benchmark lending rates is evident from the fall to 15.75 per cent. The floating reference rate, which applies to floating rate retail loans, has dropped to 12.75 per cent. Though the bank owes the reduction to a decrease in the cost of funds, the borrower’s convenience has enhanced manifold.

Loans are now available from ICICI bank at an increased comfort level. This includes personal loans of all types, including for home, car, education or any other. There are also plans that offer a fixed rate of interest for a period of the loan tenure and then switch to the floating rate. Similarly, ICICI bank loan interest rates for cars are not ruled by a uniform, absurd guideline. They vary according to the car model and the tenure of the loan, which is also dependent on the customer and his location.

Sky rocketing interest rates are no longer the obstacle they used to be. There are people who shy away from a loan even when they have the urgent requirement of one, only because they fear the impossible rate of interest. Gone are the days when wicked money lenders in villages would amass land and wealth by trickery and exorbitance. With reliable and helpful banks like ICICI, SBI and many more, getting a personal loan at a reasonable rate of interest is simple for one and all.

India’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday fixed its benchmark lending rate at 7.5 percent, a move raising expectation that private banks and other lenders are also likely to peg their base rate closer to that of SBI to stay competitive in the corporate loan market.

The new SBI rate will come into effect from July 1.

“State Bank of India has fixed the base rate at 7.50 per annum with effect from July 1, 2010,” the bank said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

As per the recommendations of the Working Group on BPLR, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had recently decided that banks switch over to the system of Base Rate with effect from July 1.

However, banks are free till December 31 to choose the parameter using which the benchmark rate will be computed.

As per the BPLR system of determining lending rates, banks could charge varying interest on different categories of borrowers.

Businesses benefited from the system, with loans to them being routinely given at below BPLR rates, resulting in a situation where small and individual depositors ended up subsidising the corporate loans.

But with the new norm coming into play, no bank can give out funds at an interest rate lower than the base rate.

Each bank can, however, determine their own base rate, and most banks are in the process of announcing theirs before July 1.

The new base rate by SBI, which controls almost one-fifth of the total loans and advances in the country, will give tough competition to other private lenders and some of its peers to come up with a matching deal.

Markets are keenly watching what ICICI Bank, India’s largest private lender, does, with its announcement on the base rate due Wednesday.

The announcement of the award of National Honour on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, raised interest at the money market last week. Dealing banks, traders as well as investors in the market, local and international, were concerned about the implication of the recognition on the current state of the market in the medium and long-term.

Although cost of funds remains high in the money market, THISDAY investigations revealed that some banks have actually cut their lending rates significantly to make it easy for big corporations to access funds, hitherto starched in their coffers.The big corporates, mainly the prime customers of the banks with thriving businesses in the food sector, manufacturing and processing, telecommunications and services among others, are accessing credit from banks at rates in the region of 11 per cent per annum, which is quite low compared to average maximum lending rate in the market at over 20 per cent.

A treasury with one of the banks explained: “There is no high risk premium on the transactions, unlike when lending to other customers of the bank.” He added: “These are people and organisations that the banks have been dealing with, have come to understand their businesses and can predict the future. Remember that the operating business environment in Nigeria is difficult and so when a customer comes to the bank to borrow money, he doesn’t just have to contend with the cost of the funds to the bank but the risks associated with his business, since a bank puts all that into consideration before arriving at the interest rate” he said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) noted at the end of its monetary policy committee meeting last week that developments in interest rates structure indicated that the retail lending rates were still relatively high even though they were declining.According to the Committee, average maximum lending rate dropped to 22.56 per cent in May 2010, from 23.45 per cent in December, 2009. Also, average prime lending rate fell to 18.77 per cent in May 2010, from 19.03 per cent in December 2009.The result of trading activities at the inter-bank money market showed Nigerian Inter-bank Offer Rates (NIBOR), which had remained at about 1 to 2 per cent increasing last week.

The inter-bank lending rates rose to 8.25 per cent on average from 2 per cent the previous week after NNPC caused a major outflow, by withdrawing about N100 billion from the system. There was outflow to foreign exchange and fixed income securities purchases. There was also a dry up of the fiscal inflow in the system, both factors causing the rates to rise, one of the traders said.The NNPC reportedly sold about $600 million to some banks in the last two weeks and recalled part of the naira proceeds to its CBN account last week in compliance with CBN’s monetary control measures.

At the foreign exchange market, the naira, which gained 5 kobo at the first bi-weekly auction last Monday lost the 5 kobo at the second auction (last Wednesday) to exchange N148.50/$1. At the inter-bank market, the naira eased to N150.22 to the dollar from 149.70, which ended its two-week rally against the dollar.

Interest, Lending, Inter-bank, Securities Trading

As stated earlier, the big corporates majorly – the prime customers of banks with thriving businesses in the food sector, manufacturing and processing, telecommunications and services among others are accessing credit from banks at rates in the region of 11 per cent per annum, which is quite low compared to average maximum lending rate in the market at over 20 per cent. But lending rate to the private sector remains high, with the flow of credit falling to the very low levels.

The CBN in its market and economy review last week noted that as at May, 2010 aggregate domestic credit (net) grew by 12.38 per cent over the December 2009 level, and by 29.72 per cent when annualised, which was still below the 2010 indicative target of 55.54 per cent. Credit to government (net), which grew substantially by 50.87 per cent over end-December 2009 (or 122.1 per cent on annualised basis), was the major contributor. Credit to the private sector declined by 1.88 per cent (or 4.51 per cent on annualided basis), in contrast to the growth benchmark of 31.54 per cent for 2010.

The CBN further disclosed that the substantial growth of credit to government (net) against the backdrop of declining private sector credit reflected the risk aversion of banks to lending to non-government borrowers, adding that the “Committee believes that in order to provide the private sector with the necessary credit to grow the economy, further efforts are needed to unlock the credit market in order to enhance the flow of credit to the real economy.

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Nigeria’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as it prepares to buy toxic debt from commercial banks to revive lending.

The monetary policy rate was left at 6 percent, Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said today at a briefing in Abuja, the capital. The main lending rate to commercial banks will be maintained at 8 percent and the borrowing rate at 1 percent.

The West African country’s Senate on June 23 approved a law to set up a state-owned company that will buy the debts from banks. The bank will clear $10 billion of toxic assets from the system this year, at a cost of about $5 billion, the governor said on July 1. The legislation is expected to get President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval soon, according to a central bank statement.

The debt purchases will “reflate the economy” Sanusi said. “Each bank has shown improved profitability compared with last year.”

The central bank fired the top managers of eight of the country’s 24 lenders last year and gave the industry an injection of 620 billion naira ($4.1 billion) to stem the decline.

Bank lending has been slow to recover. Credit to private industry fell in January, February and March, before gaining 0.3 percent in April, according to the central bank website.

Exchange Rate

The central bank is also likely to maintain its current exchange rate policy, which has kept the naira at about 150 to the dollar since February 2009, and helped maintain inflation between 10.4 percent and 13 percent since June, Sanusi said last week.

“It would be wise not to disrupt the balance” he said.

The inflation rate declined to 11 percent in May from 12.5 percent a month earlier.

The inflation and lending outlooks “have not changed significantly, so there is no real need to change anything at present” David Cowan, Citigroup’s Africa economist, said in an e-mail.

Nigeria’s economy, the second-largest in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa, grew 7.2 percent in the first quarter and 7.4 percent in the previous three months, as oil production increased following a decline in attacks in the Niger Delta. Nigeria is the continent’s top oil producer and the fifth- largest supplier of U.S. crude imports.

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