The Hindu Business Line : Andhra Bank plans niche branches

The bank, which merged its housing finance subsidiary with itself a couple of years ago, would have at least two exclusive housing finances branches with an eye on the huge potential in the segment.

"These two branches will come up in the Twin Cities in two months," Mr G. Ramakrishna Reddy, General Manager, told Business Line.

Housing portfolio comprised ten per cent of Hyderabad zone's total advances of Rs 3,000 crore during 2003-04.

The bank is also planning to set up an exclusive branch for pensioners this year. "We are also going to have an exclusive retail finance branch," Mr Reddy said.

Making it convenient for its customers to get access to more ATMs, the bank has forged pacts with ICICI Bank, UTI Bank, HDFC Bank and IDBI Bank.

According to him, anywhere banking would take some time before becoming operational fully in the bank network. "There are some issues that still need to be tackled. For now, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are connected," he said.

On the specialised corporate finance branch that has been shifted to a new facility at Somajiguda, he said the branch had some 55 high-profile accounts with accounts that exceeded Rs 300 crore. "We are targeting a business of Rs 600 crore and 100 customers for the branch in the current fiscal," Mr Reddy said.

Mr T.S. Narayanasami, Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank, inaugurated the new facility on Monday.