BoB is likely to foray into insurance sector

Mumbai, Jan 24 (UNI) The Bank of Baroda (BoB) is likely to foray into the insurance and asset management sectors by inking a number of joint ventures during the current year.

Talking to media after the announcing the Bank's results for the third quarter here today, its CMD Dr Anil K Khandelwal said, ''We will soon be announcing our Bank's joint ventures with other institutions to make our foray into fields like insurance and asset management company and stock broking.'' Talking about his future plans, Dr Khandelwal, who is of the firm belief that banking is a serious business, said, ''We have got a licence from competitive regulatory body to open full-fledged branches in Hong Kong soon.'' He informed that to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Bank's operations in the UK, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram will attend a function there on January 29.

''We are moving to ten new countries during the current calendar year, of which six overseas branches have been planned for this fiscal.'' This is at a time when the Bank has recorded a growth of 60 per cent on the front of its overseas operations.

Meanwhile, while announcing the third quarter results, he said net profit of the Bank has risen by 62.8 per cent, while the net NPAs (Non Performing Assets) have dropped to 0.67 per cent, which was at the international levels. Similarly, the net NPAs of the Bank was nil overseas. Overall, the Bank registered a 37 per cent growth during the quarter.

UNI