UTI Bank plans overseas expansion

Launches retail sales subsidiary

UTI Bank, which opened its first international branch in Singapore early this year, plans to further expand its overseas network later this year. The Bank also has a representative office in Shanghai, China.

The bank plans to open a full fledged branch in Hong Kong later this year. "We have applied for a full banking license with the Hong Kong authorities and we expect to get the approval shortly," S Chatterjee, executive director of the bank, said after opening the first office of its new subsidiary, UBL Sales, here today.

The bank also proposes to open an investment banking arm in London and an offshore branch in Dubai. "We have applied to RBI for the necessary approvals. We aim to build a distribution base in overseas markets to service our existing corporate clients and enhance our placement capabilities," Chatterjee said.

The Singapore branch will offer offshore, corporate and merchant banking services and will not focus on retail banking, he clarified.

The bank's new sales subsidiary UBL Sales will mainly focus on enhancing its retail lending business by signing up new costomers and catering to their requirements of housing, personal and consumer loans. "The retail market is growing at a rate of 35-40% annually and we want to take full advantage of the opportunities available in expanding our retail customer base," Chatterjee said.

UBL Sales will also focus on distributing UTI Bank credit cards initially and at a later stage start distribution of mutual funds, general and life insurance products.

UTI Bank is exploring the possibility of tying up with an insurance company to distribute life insurance products. At present, the bank has bancassurance tie up with Bajaj Allianz.

By March 2007, UBL Sales will launch its operations at 42 locations across the country and hire about 3,500 sales staff for marketing the financial asset products of UTI Bank. "The objective of the subsidiary will be to build competitive advantage in the marketing of credit cards and retail loans," Sanjay Silas, MD of UBL Sales, said.