Centurion Bank goes beyond banking

Bangalore, Mar 13: Extending its arm beyond banking, Centurion Bank of Punjab, is targetting the growing upper middle income group in the country by offering a bouquet of services, including an innovative Wealth Management Scheme, to manage the surplus income judiciously.

Bank Head for Wealth Management and Branch banking Harpreet Singh told UNI that the scheme introduced about nine months ago was fast catching up and the Bank had a battery of cadre of relationship managers who exclusively cater to this growing tribe of clients.

''We are not targetting the rich who are now catered by multinational banks. Our aim is to tap those who have a surplus of about Rs three to four lakh annually and help them invest it profitably in a variety of instruments,'' Mr Singh explained.

He said with the increasing life span of people, which was now averaging at 76 in the metros, and the retiring life reduced to 55 there was a need for them to look for alternative investment proposals to ensure that they led a comfortable life beyond retirement. Added to this was the changing lifestyle which had pushed back the joint family culture.

Mr Singh said the Bank offered individual suggestions to suit the needs of its clients and its specially-generated software helped track the investments. ''We also undertake risk profiling and suggest clients to manage their debt,'' he added.

''This has shown tremendous results and nearly 40 per cent of our clientele included repeat visitors,'' he said, adding that the Bank had innovative promotional activities to attract new clients.

One such event was held here in the form of a fashion show. ''We do not mind even attending kitty parties to catch the imagination of women and suggest to wives various means of managing wealth, with the husband busy in his office work'' Mr Singh said.

He said that besides a host of mutual funds and other investment schemes, the bank also advised on insurance business. Its bank assurance scheme was one of the most popular in the country, he claimed.

Stating that the merger of Bank of Punjab had been carried out on a smooth fashion and the integration work was almost completed, h said the complete merger process would be completed by this year end.

He said the Bank was concentrating more on South and would be opening more branches in the evening. The RBI had recently provided licence to open 30 more branches and the network of branches would increase to 270 by March 2007, he added.

UNI