Corporation Bank plans to increase its overseas presence and is also looking at a merchant banking licence through its subsidiary.
Mr Ramnath Pradeep, Chairman and Managing Director, said that the bank is exploring the possibility of opening branches in Singapore, Malaysia and South African countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Botswana. He was addressing the 14th annual general meeting of the shareholders of the bank here on Saturday.
The bank has overseas presence through representative offices in Dubai and Hong Kong.
One of the shareholders wanted to know the reason for the bank's subsidiary – Corpbank Securities Ltd – recording a lowest profit of Rs 6.79 crore during 2010-11. For this, Mr Pradeep said that last year treasury operations did not contribute much to the profit side in the banking sector. However, he agreed with the fact that it was not a good profit.
MERCHANT BANKING
He said that the bank, after taking approval of the board, has approached the Securities and Exchanges Board of India for a merchant banking licence. The decision to approach SEBI was taken so that the subsidiary can start merchant banking activity. “We also want to have syndication desk there,” he said, adding that these measures should help improve income of that entity.