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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Shit! More Indian FTs coming!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>CPL (kojakbt22) <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Dec-7 9:56 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 9) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>25527.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>
Dec 8, 2009
Indian bank eyes full service licence
ICICI's move follows rival's aggressive growth here after getting licence
<!-- by line -->By Francis Chan
The ICICI Bank Towers in Mumbai, India. If the bank's application is approved, it will be able to raise local currency deposits and have a total of 25 branches here. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
<!-- story content : start -->
ONE of India's biggest banks has applied for a coveted licence that will allow it to establish itself across Singapore with a wider range of services and reach out to more customers.
The move will put ICICI Bank in direct competition with its rival, the State Bank of India (SBI), which has expanded aggressively here after being granted the licence last year.
ICICI spokesman Charudatta Deshpande told The Straits Times that the bank has applied for what is known as a qualifying full bank (QFB) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
If successful, it will be the second Indian bank after SBI, and only the eighth foreign one here, to get a QFB licence.
Indian banks like ICICI and SBI have been operating mostly in the Central Business District or where the Indian diaspora frequent, such as Little India.
They mainly serve corporate clients and provide remittance services for Indian workers. But the QFB licence will let them raise local currency deposits and grow their network up to a total of 25 bank branches.
The licence will allow ICICI to follow SBI's footsteps and venture into HDB heartlands like Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio to tap into the local retail market.
Industry experts believe that ICICI hopes to emulate SBI's growth here in recent months.
'It has seen what SBI has done here, setting up so many branches over a short period of time, and will try to catch up with their main rivals here,' said a veteran banker from a local bank.
'But would the local retail space here be big enough for another foreign bank trying to take market share from our local players? I don't know.'
SBI - India's largest bank by assets, network and profits - mounted robust expansion plans after it received QFB status in April last year.
It located five of its seven branches in HDB estates like Jurong, Marine Parade and Clementi in a bid to attract customers beyond its traditional Indian clientele.
The bank went all out to lure savers and home buyers with attractive rates. Rates for home loans were as low as 0.6 per cent plus the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate for the first year.
SBI had declared in September that it wants to be the second bank that customers choose after local banks like DBS Bank, United Overseas Bank and OCBC.
'SBI really went big here, but I think what was key for them was the hiring of non-Indian staff - Chinese and Malays, maybe - to serve the new demographic they are after, and perhaps ICICI may want to follow suit,' said one banker.
ICICI has 950 branches and 3,300 ATMs in India today plus a presence in 17 countries, including Britain, the United States, Dubai, China and South Africa.
But despite a total asset base of about US$100 billion (S$138 billion), ICICI actively ventured beyond India's shores to set up branches only in 2003, with Singapore as its first port of call.
The MAS would not confirm that the bank has applied to be a QFB as it 'does not comment on specific dealings with financial institutions'.
Three industry observers told The Straits Times that it was just a matter of time before ICICI - which is 5.76 per cent owned by Temasek Holdings - receives its QFB licence.
'Look at it this way, Singapore has already agreed in 2005 to grant QFB status to three Indian banks under the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement), in exchange for our banks to set up branches in India,' said one banking analyst.
[email protected]
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Dec 8, 2009
Indian bank eyes full service licence
ICICI's move follows rival's aggressive growth here after getting licence
<!-- by line -->By Francis Chan
The ICICI Bank Towers in Mumbai, India. If the bank's application is approved, it will be able to raise local currency deposits and have a total of 25 branches here. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
<!-- story content : start -->
ONE of India's biggest banks has applied for a coveted licence that will allow it to establish itself across Singapore with a wider range of services and reach out to more customers.
The move will put ICICI Bank in direct competition with its rival, the State Bank of India (SBI), which has expanded aggressively here after being granted the licence last year.
ICICI spokesman Charudatta Deshpande told The Straits Times that the bank has applied for what is known as a qualifying full bank (QFB) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
If successful, it will be the second Indian bank after SBI, and only the eighth foreign one here, to get a QFB licence.
Indian banks like ICICI and SBI have been operating mostly in the Central Business District or where the Indian diaspora frequent, such as Little India.
They mainly serve corporate clients and provide remittance services for Indian workers. But the QFB licence will let them raise local currency deposits and grow their network up to a total of 25 bank branches.
The licence will allow ICICI to follow SBI's footsteps and venture into HDB heartlands like Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio to tap into the local retail market.
Industry experts believe that ICICI hopes to emulate SBI's growth here in recent months.
'It has seen what SBI has done here, setting up so many branches over a short period of time, and will try to catch up with their main rivals here,' said a veteran banker from a local bank.
'But would the local retail space here be big enough for another foreign bank trying to take market share from our local players? I don't know.'
SBI - India's largest bank by assets, network and profits - mounted robust expansion plans after it received QFB status in April last year.
It located five of its seven branches in HDB estates like Jurong, Marine Parade and Clementi in a bid to attract customers beyond its traditional Indian clientele.
The bank went all out to lure savers and home buyers with attractive rates. Rates for home loans were as low as 0.6 per cent plus the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate for the first year.
SBI had declared in September that it wants to be the second bank that customers choose after local banks like DBS Bank, United Overseas Bank and OCBC.
'SBI really went big here, but I think what was key for them was the hiring of non-Indian staff - Chinese and Malays, maybe - to serve the new demographic they are after, and perhaps ICICI may want to follow suit,' said one banker.
ICICI has 950 branches and 3,300 ATMs in India today plus a presence in 17 countries, including Britain, the United States, Dubai, China and South Africa.
But despite a total asset base of about US$100 billion (S$138 billion), ICICI actively ventured beyond India's shores to set up branches only in 2003, with Singapore as its first port of call.
The MAS would not confirm that the bank has applied to be a QFB as it 'does not comment on specific dealings with financial institutions'.
Three industry observers told The Straits Times that it was just a matter of time before ICICI - which is 5.76 per cent owned by Temasek Holdings - receives its QFB licence.
'Look at it this way, Singapore has already agreed in 2005 to grant QFB status to three Indian banks under the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement), in exchange for our banks to set up branches in India,' said one banking analyst.
[email protected]
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