Centurion Bank to open 39 branches

Centurion Bank of Punjab will 39 more branches in the country including three more in Punjab in the current financial year.

"At present we have 241 branches in the country and 69 in Punjab, we have decided to open 39 more branches in the country including three in Punjab," Anil Jaggia, chief operating officer of the Bank said.

After its merger with the Bank of Punjab in October, Centurian Bank has emerged stronger in both Southern and Northern regions, he said, revealing that as per the figure till December 2005, bank recorded a net worth of Rs 840 crore, which was expected to be higher in the final balancesheet till March 31, 2006.

About the non-performing-assets of the bank, Jaggia claimed that it was 2.6 per cent by December 2005 and by March 31, 2006, a drastic drop in the NPA figure was expected.

Jaggia revealed that the bank had set a target of 85 per cent growth in its foreign exchange business to touch the figure of $1 billion. Recently concluded road shows in Punjab and the southern parts of the country have helped.

"From Punjab, which is known as NRI hub of the country, we get over 45 per cent of our foreign exchange business and the bank has set a target of 85 per cent growth in its foreign currency business during the current financial year with the launching of massive awareness campaign in the form of road shows in villages, where large number of NRI families live" Sudharshan Motwani, head of foreign exchange services of the bank said.

"Since a large number of people are still not aware of the new schemes and products that are now available at banks and think getting foreign exchange from banks involves a lot of formalities, paper work and time, the road shows cleared their doubts" he added.

Motwani said the CBoP dealt in currencies of more than 100 countries and hence it was in the position to provide the best rate for foreign currencies, traveler's cheques and international credit cards to foreign tourists and NRI's visiting India.