Syndicate Bank has chalked out a Rs 100-crore three-year IT plan. Consultant major KPMG has been appointed for the purpose and a top software firm will be roped in shortly to implement the programme.
Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director D T Pai said, "The programme will cover around 250 branches."
The bank has 1710 branches and 200 extension centres. With 75 years of banking experience, Syndicate Bank serves over 182 lakh depositors and over 16 lakh borrowers.
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"Following this move, we will focus on wholesale retail banking," Pai said.
The networking will primarily be advantageous to customers, who bring in a lot of business to the bank.
While most of the public sector banks have unleashed their IT programmes by roping in software giants, Syndicate Bank is set to join the league. "We have shortlisted a few software firms. But a final decision is yet to be taken on the matter," Pai said.
The bank recently entered into the credit card market in association with Standard Chartered. It has become the first nationalised bank to market global credit cards. Under this co-branding partnership, Syndicate Bank will be engaged in marketing and distribution, while Standard Chartered will manage the credit cards.
Syndicate Bank is also one of the few public sector banks to have hit the capital market with an IPO last year. Being the first public issue at par from a public sector bank, its Rs 125-crore IPO was oversubscribed 3.68 times. It attracted over 4 lakh investors.
Consequent upon the IPO, the government's stake in the bank has come down by 26.48 per cent. The bank paid a maiden dividend of 14 per cent last year.
The bank's net profit was over Rs 215 crore in 1999-2000 against over Rs 142 crore in the previous year. This year, the bank has made a projection of achieving a net profit of Rs 305 crore. At the end of last fiscal, the bank's CAR was 11.45 per cent against the previous year's level of 9.57 per cent.
However, Syndicate Bank's stocks have been seen quoted at either below par or marginally above par ever since its IPO was floated. The bank's stocks continue to languish despite its good record.