MAM
Former US President Bill Clinton to deliver 2007 Promax/BDA keynote
MUMBAI: US media and marketing organisation Promax/BDA has announced former US President Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker for the organisation’s annual conference this June in New York City.
Regarded as one of the best communicators in modern history and global politics, Clinton’s unique ability to engage his audience and create an emotional connection between the listener and the issue is a talent coveted by today’s marketers in electronic media. Clinton’s understanding of the changing media landscape and his ability to construct a message in a way that fully utilizes the medium delivering it is also of great interest and importance to the Promax/BDA membership.
Promax/BDA chairman Michael Benson who is also ABC Entertainment’s executive VP, marketing says, “We are pleased and honored by the opportunity to host President Bill Clinton as our keynote speaker this year. Our membership will certainly benefit from President Clinton’s experience and wisdom as a prominent world leader and respected statesman as well as from his efforts inspiring humanitarianism around the globe.
“As an organisation dedicated to furthering the roles of our members as the world’s foremost television marketers, what better example to provide to them than this global communicator whose vision and accomplishments, both during his presidency and beyond, have touched billions.”
Promax/BDA will hold its 52nd annual North American conference from 12-14 June 2007 in New York. The event, which attracts television marketers and designers from all over the world, has previously featured such respected and well-known speakers as Anderson Cooper, Larry King, Robert Kennedy Jr. and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, among others. President Clinton is the first former president to address members of Pormax/BDA.
Brands
Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
