Bank of Baroda, which closed its offshore banking unit in Bahrain in 1993, will return to the Gulf nation by opening a full fledged branch as part of a major expansion plan in the region.
The new license, granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), marks the return of BoB to Bahrain, the fifth largest bank in India. BoB, which first established an offshore banking unit in Bahrain in 1980, was closed in 1993 due to a foreign exchange crisis in India.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty and Bank of Baroda's global chairman and managing director Dr Anil Khandelwal will attend the reception to mark the opening of the new branch on Sunday.
The new branch will target high net worth individuals and corporates in the region, said GCC operations chief executive Ashok Gupta.
Its main lines of business will be deposit products, loans and syndications, trade finance and structured products, treasury products and services as well as participating in debt market and private banking/wealth management services, he added.
"The CBB welcomes the return of Bank of Baroda to Bahrain," said CBB licensing and policy director Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Bassam.
"The business environment for wholesale banking is particularly attractive, given the economic boom taking place in the Middle East region and India," he said.
Bahrain's wholesale banking industry has grown significantly over the past two years, with the consolidated assets of wholesale banks amounting to USD 77.2 billion in August last year, an increase of over 20 per cent over the same period in 2006.
Khandelwal during a visit to the UAE in January, had said: "the Gulf region is very important as part of overseas expansion and the UAE operations are our top priority since they are most profitable."
Apart from Bahrain, BoB is the only Indian bank to have a full-fledged operations in the UAE with six branches and 17 ATMs.
It also has its presence in Oman. "We are also looking at Kuwait, Saudi Arabian and Qatar Markets," he said.
BoB has 2,800 branches in India and has 66 offices abroad in 24 countries, the highest for an Indian bank. By 2012, we plan to have 100 overseas offices, he added.
Courtesy : THEFINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
The new license, granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), marks the return of BoB to Bahrain, the fifth largest bank in India. BoB, which first established an offshore banking unit in Bahrain in 1980, was closed in 1993 due to a foreign exchange crisis in India.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty and Bank of Baroda's global chairman and managing director Dr Anil Khandelwal will attend the reception to mark the opening of the new branch on Sunday.
The new branch will target high net worth individuals and corporates in the region, said GCC operations chief executive Ashok Gupta.
Its main lines of business will be deposit products, loans and syndications, trade finance and structured products, treasury products and services as well as participating in debt market and private banking/wealth management services, he added.
"The CBB welcomes the return of Bank of Baroda to Bahrain," said CBB licensing and policy director Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Bassam.
"The business environment for wholesale banking is particularly attractive, given the economic boom taking place in the Middle East region and India," he said.
Bahrain's wholesale banking industry has grown significantly over the past two years, with the consolidated assets of wholesale banks amounting to USD 77.2 billion in August last year, an increase of over 20 per cent over the same period in 2006.
Khandelwal during a visit to the UAE in January, had said: "the Gulf region is very important as part of overseas expansion and the UAE operations are our top priority since they are most profitable."
Apart from Bahrain, BoB is the only Indian bank to have a full-fledged operations in the UAE with six branches and 17 ATMs.
It also has its presence in Oman. "We are also looking at Kuwait, Saudi Arabian and Qatar Markets," he said.
BoB has 2,800 branches in India and has 66 offices abroad in 24 countries, the highest for an Indian bank. By 2012, we plan to have 100 overseas offices, he added.
Courtesy : THEFINANCIALEXPRESS.COM