MAM
NBC’S Frank Radice to keynote Promax Arabia
MUMBAI: Promax & BDA EMEA has announced that Frank Radice will deliver the keynote address on News Promotion at the first ever PROMAX&BDA Arabia conference.
The event will take place 3-4 May 2005 at the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai.
Radice has created award winning promotional campaigns for such marquee programs as NBC’s Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, The Today Show with Katie Couric, and Dateline NBC,
As Senior Vice President of the NBC Agency in New York, which handles all promotional campaigns for the Peacock network, Radice’s session will focus on promoting news during times of crisis. Having engineered the promotion campaign behind the transition of Brian Williams as the host of NBC Nightly News, replacing Tom Brokaw, Radice will also discuss the importance of the persona of news anchors, says a company release.
“Our members spend a lot of time promoting news programming, especially during the challenging times we live in today. Frank Radice is more than qualified to address the issues they are facing and we are thrilled to have him headlining this important discussion,” said senior VP and MD of PROMAX&BDA EMEA Carmen Alzner in making the announcement.
“While the world is at war, promoting news stories about combat and the military can be difficult but if done correctly, you can communicate your message in a compelling, audience-captivating way,” he said.
Besides extensive experience in advertising and promotion, Radice has a lengthy background in news production. During his 11 years with ABC News, he was honored with two Dupont Awards and one Emmy. He was a producer for Nightline for five years (1980-1984), the ABC Evening News and The Last Word with Phil Donahue and Greg Jackson. Additionally, he covered major news events including politics, wars in the Middle East and Central America, the Falkland Islands conflict and the invasion of Grenada, the release adds.
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.
