Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004 |
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Money & Banking
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Private Banks Centurion Bank may offer bancassurance products Abhrajit Gangopadhyay
Mr Shailendra Bhandari, Managing Director
Bangalore , Feb. 17 CENTURION Bank is likely to distribute bancassurance products to boost its fee-based income and spur future growth. However, the bank is yet to set a timeline and choose such products, said Mr Shailendra Bhandari, Managing Director. "It is too early to put a timeframe to it. The industry would wonder, given my background, why we are not in the mutual funds business. We plan to start from scratch from April 1 ... we hope to achieve several things and it will take time," he added. Mr Bhandari, who recently took over the reins at Centurion, was the chief of Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company earlier. Centurion Bank, which has a strong retail base - close to 75 per cent of its deposits are in the retail segment - and 73 per cent advances to the same, still does not offer several retail-specific products like mortgages, said Mr Bhandari. According to him, the bank is likely to roll out certain products specific to select markets where there is potential demand. "We have an excellent process in place, but to service new products we need to be very sure." The bank aims to be among the top three in any product it services in any market. Meanwhile, Centurion Bank has ruled out any tier II infusion as the Rs 65-crore rights issue is likely to hit the market early next fiscal. "Our capital would be Rs 219 crore, since Rs 154 crore from Sabre Capital has already come in," Mr Bhandari said. Moreover, the bank plans to continue aggressive provisioning, which currently stands at 58 per cent. Bank Muscat, which merged its sole Indian operations with Centurion, had a sizeable portfolio of financed used cars, which has been merged with Centurion's book.
The bank plans to open branches in Amritsar and Gangtok and has received necessary approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
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