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| Purwar: Going places |
Mumbai, Oct. 7: The State Bank of India will acquire Giro Commercial Bank in Kenya for Rs 30 crore ($7 million).
The SBI will buy 76 per cent of the private bank, which is a closely-held entity with promoters of Indian origin. Giro has six branches in Nairobi, Mombassa and Kisumu.
“The State Bank is already present in four countries in Africa. The acquisition will expand its presence further,” chairman A.K. Purwar said.
“East Africa has historical links with India and is viewed with interest by the SBI,” Purwar added.
Giro Commercial Bank was formed following the merger of Giro Bank with Commerce Bank. It is one of the leading banks in Kenya that offers premium finance facilities to its clients.
The African bank has a presence in the retail as well as commercial segments, Purwar said on the sidelines of a banking seminar.
The acquisition will be the second this year after Indian Ocean International Bank, Mauritius, which State bank acquired some months ago for Rs 34.5 crore ($8 million). Like in Mauritius, the SBI’s plan is to tap people of Indian origin in Kenya. They are a significant part of the immigrant population and also form a sizeable chunk of the business community and white-collar employees in Kenya.
The State Bank has been zeroing in on banks in select countries that have a significant number of people with Indian origin. This will help them attain a client base quickly. It is said to be in the process of making a bid for Rupali Bank of Bangladesh. SBI had received the nod from the RBI for these overseas acquisitions.
Corporation Bank
Corporation Bank today said it would open representative offices in Dubai and Hong Kong. “We have applied to the RBI for opening representative offices in Dubai and Hong Kong,” chairman and managing director V.K. Chopra said.
Chopra said the bank was awaiting a go-ahead from the RBI within the next fortnight granting permission to open the Dubai office.
He, however, did not specify any definite time-frame for the approval of the representative office in Hong Kong.
