Allahabad Bank opens first global branch,enters Insurance business

Kolkata, Oct 26 (UNI) Public sector Allahabad Bank is opening its first overseas branch in Hong Kong in December this year and has decided to make forays into the non-life Insurance sector in a big way by signing the formal agreement with Japanese partner "Sompo" by next week.

This was announced here today by Allahabad Bank Chairman and Managing Director A C Mahajan while declaring the first half results of the current financial year of the city-based Bank.

He said apart from opening the first full fledged foreign branch of the Bank within the next one and a half months following the receipt of necessary approvals from the RBI and the Hong Kong Banking authorities, Allahabad Bank opened a well equipped Representative office in Guangdong city of China earlier this year.

" However, our plan to open another Rep office at Kazaksthan jointly with the Punbjab National Bank(PNB) this year has been temporarily shelved following some technical problems with the PNB authorities, " Mr Mahajan said but denied any hitch with the PNB in