Private sector lender Karur Vysya Bank plans to expand its branch network to 700 branches by 2016.
The bank opened 14 branches across five States and a Union Territory along with 100 ATMs on Wednesday.
Following the opening of the new branches, the Tamil Nadu-based bank’s branch network has increased to 514.
The focus of the bank’s future branch expansion will be Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and to some extent in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The bank’s ATM network currently stands at about 1,400 ATMs. Also, 58 per cent of the total branches are situated in the rural and semi-urban areas.
“Our focus remains on the southern states and we aim to grow in clusters in order to grow in local areas. We will be adding about 60-70 branches by March 2013,” said K. Venkataraman, Managing Director and CEO of the bank.
Further, the bank has made a conscious decision to retain the traditional or relationship banking model in order to preserve the client base. “Our basic relationship model of operations will continue as it will help us retain and monitor our customers closely. We are also improving our in-branch experience,” Venkataraman said.
In addition, knowing customers personally also helps to identify problems at an early stage as far as asset quality is concerned, he said. The bank’s gross non-performing assets ratio stood at 1.26 per cent, while the net NPAs were at 0.32 per cent as on September 30, 2012.
Venkataraman said the bank was not compromising on the asset quality. “The key to maintenance of asset quality is selection of borrowers through good references and market reports,” he said.
KVB has started centralised housing loan processing. It is also providing internet and mobile banking services to educational institutes to make collection of fees and other transactions inside the campus easier as “cash handling is becoming a big issue with institutes and students.”