The Hindu Business Line : Bank of India to distribute HDFC mutual fund schemes

STRATEGIC TIE-UP: Mr P. L. Gairola (left), Executive Director, Bank of India, and Mr Milind Barve, MD, HDFC Mutual Fund, at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. - Paul Noronha

Mumbai , Feb. 21

BANK of India has signed an agreement with HDFC Asset Management Company to distribute its mutual fund schemes across India.

As per the agreement the bank will offer mutual fund products in about 300 branches to begin with.

The bank has similar agreements with DSP Merrill Lynch and UTI Mutual Fund to sell mutual funds and with National Insurance to sell non-life products and with ICICI Prudential to sell life insurance products.

Mr P.L. Gairola, Executive Director, Bank of India, said the bank's income from third party products was about Rs 20-22 crore. The bank has also seen a growth of 17-18 per cent in its fee-based income.

"We have trained about 1,400 personnel for marketing and we want to increase the number to 5,000 in the next two-three years," Mr Gairola said.

For mutual funds, Bank of India has 160 AMFI-trained personnel.

HDFC AMC hopes to reach out to customers in B and C class cities through the tie-up said Mr Milind Barve, Managing Director, HDFC AMC.

"These are high potential areas and Bank of India's huge network of branches will help us offer our products there. Over 40 per cent of our business is through commercial banks," he said.

HDFC AMC has Rs 20,000 crore assets under management and over Rs 10,000 crore in equities, Mr Barve said. The AMC has similar tie-ups with Union Bank of India and Canara Bank to distribute mutual funds.

Bank of India also launched an international debit card jointly with MasterCard International on Tuesday. This is a premium card for the bank's affluent customers.

The Global Debit-cum-ATM cardholders can access five additional accounts on ATMs through their single card, said Mr Nagesh Pydah, General Manager, Bank of India. They can also use it to transfer balances among all the six accounts linked to the card. The card can be accepted at over 23 million merchant establishments as well as one million ATMs worldwide.

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