World's oldest bank in Mumbai

Italy's Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), the world's oldest bank founded in 1472, today opened its representative office in Mumbai.

The bank said its presence in the country is meant to help Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to establish relations with Indian counterparts via joint ventures and facilitate commercial operations. MPS estimates that there are 10,000-15,000 Italian SMEs interested in making a foray into India.

The bank has also forged correspondent banking tie-ups with domestic entities such as State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of India.

Vito Cinesi, area manager, correspondent banking, Asia and Far East, group coordination and strategy of the bank, said, "akin to our strategy for China, we now plan to submit a report on the various opportunities available in the Indian market."

He added, "the bank's correspondent banking team is in the process of making periodical visits to Indian banks, whom we serve through our Hong Kong branch in the loan syndication market."

Six other Italian banks already have representative offices in India.

Pradeep Dubey, head of the Mumbai representative office of the bank, explained that smaller companies in Italy are looking at forging partnerships with local entities so that infrastructural issues are taken care off.

These include players from sectors such as fashion, jewellery, leather, textiles, agro food-processing and industrial machinery.

A part of the bank's future strategy here includes helping Indian corporates set up shop in Italy, which would involve focus on upgrading product quality and promoting Indo-Italian tourism links.