BOI ties up with Japanese life insurance company

Panaji, Mar 12 (UNI) The public sector banking major Bank of India (BOI) today announced that it will come out with attractive life insurance products for the public in collaboration with Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company of Japan within six months.

Disclosing this to media persons here, BoI's chairman-cum-managing director M Balachandran said the bank had already entered into an arrangement for setting up a joint venture with the foreign company, which was ranked second best in Japan and sixth largest in the world.

The joint venture also involves the Union Bank of India. The threesome will hold capital stake of 51 per cent, 26 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

The LIC products are apart from the general insurance products alredy launched, including the floating health insurance product for depositors.

The BOI, with 24 million customer base and Rs 2,00,000 crore turnover and 2700 branches in India and abroad, hopes to benefit the customers with new product profile, besides achieving 20 per cent growth in deposits and 30 per cent in credits in the current fiscal.

Mr Balachandran, who is one among the memers of the high-powered committee for making Mumbai the financial hub of the country, said the BoI has for the first time finalised acquiring 76 per cent stake in PT Bank Swadesi Tbk, a listed bank in Indonesia, recently. It may take a few months before actual takeover.

Within three to six months, the bank is poised to bring 95 per cent of its 2700 branch network under the stable ''core banking system'' with 1010 branches already in the network, he said.

The BOI is in the process of setting up a subsidiary in Tanzania, representative office in Johannesburg and a branch at Antwerp in Belgium, he informed.

Mr Balachandran said the bank has received approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for opening branches in Dhaka and Dubai, a subsidiary in Canada and representative offices in Dubai and Doha.

He said now, the bank has 24 overseas offices, spread over 12 countries, even as it had expanded into China with two offices, one of which was a full scale branch, he said.

The bank's international operations contribute 19.45 per cent of its total business and 32 per cent of total net profit, he said.

Interestingly, the bank has entered into a strategic alliance with the Union Bank of India and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) for loan syndication, international business, cash management, cheque collection and training.

Mr Balachandran was here in connection with laying a foundation stone for the bank's zonal office building in the city.

UNI