Bank of Baroda to open 10 new branches overseas

Nagpur, Apr 25 (UNI) Bank of Baroda (BoB), one of India's largest public sector banks, will shortly open ten new branches overseas.

Addressing a press conference here today, BoB Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Anil K Khandelwal said the new branches would be opened soon in Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana, Qatar, Bahrain and Australia, countries where the bank does not have a presence at present.

Besides, new branches would be opened in four countries where BoB already has operations, he said. These included two new branches in the United Kingdom (eight existing branches), and one each in Kenya (seven), Botswana (one) and South Africa (one), Mr Khandelwal said.

Besides, the bank had applied for operating licences in Canada, Kuwait and Yemen, the CMD said.

Mr Khandelwal said BoB became the first public sector bank in the country to begin operations overseas when it opened a branch in Mombasa in Kenya in 1953. The bank's overseas network now includes 61 branches and offices in 21 countries across 5 continents, thus making it India's truly international bank.

BoB had tied up with Legal and General, one of the largest insurance firms of the UK, for its life insurance venture, and was looking for a third partner, Mr Khandelwal said. The bank had also tied up with the Pioneer Group of Italy for the mutual fund and asset management venture that it planned to launch soon, he said.

The bank had opened a 'GenNext branch,' with features like Internet surfing and library targeted at youngsters, in Pune on an experimental basis, Mr Khandelwal told newsmen. Depending on the response, the bank planned to open similar branches over the next year in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai, cities that had a high population of information technology workers and students, the CMD added.

UNI