As part of its business process re-engineering programme, Bank of Baroda plans a separate vertical for mid-corporate financing, according to a top official of the bank.

“We plan to have a separate vertical for mid-corporate lending, which will handle centralised mid-corporate services. We expect 15 per cent of our asset portfolio to come from the mid-corporate business,” Mr N. S. Srinath, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, told Business Line .

As on March 31, 2011, the bank's total advances stood at Rs 2.29 lakh crore, and the mid-corporate segment accounted for Rs 25,000-30,000 crore.

The bank already has centralised loan processing centres for the retail and SME segments, and “we want to further fine-tune the processes in these centres,” said Mr Srinath. According to him, international consulting firm McKinsey would help the bank re-engineer its business processes.

The bank will soon come out with a centralised back-office function, and also regional back-office function. “We are also starting a call centre for our customers, and plan to set up call centres at Lucknow and Baroda,” he added. According to him, the Lucknow call centre has already been soft-launched.

Branch abroad

Bank of Baroda plans to open two more branches in New Zealand as part of its subsidiary in that country. “Our New Zealand subsidiary is headquartered in Auckland, and plan to open two more branches soon,” said Mr Srinath.

The bank currently has eight overseas subsidiaries. The bank has also joined hands with Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank to start a subsidiary in Malaysia, India International Bank, which is expected to become operational in two months.