BoB advocates no subprime crisis exposure

Mumbai, Mar 5 (UNI) Reacting to the reports of possibility of PSU banks also bearing the brunt of the subprime hammering due to their overseas exposure, public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) today said it has not been influenced by subprime crisis.

''BoB is unscathed by sub-prime crisis and it does not have any investments, which are directly or indirectly exposed to US sub-prime market,'' the bank clarified today in a statement.

However, the bank admitted that its exposure was by the way of Investment in Credit Linked Notes (CLNs), with reference entities as single Indian Corporate and Banks.

The total investment of the Bank in CLNs is only USD 329 mn (Rs 1,296 crore) as on December 31, 2007. Full provisioning has been made as per prescribed norms of Mark to Market. The outstanding provisioning as on December 31, 2007, was only USD 2.808 mn (Rs 11.06 crore).

''If these investments are marked to market as of February 29, there would be additional provisions of USD 2.50 mn, or Rs 10 crore, as credit spreads have widened,'' the bank said.

The Bank does not have any exposure on credit derivatives Collateralised Debt Obligations (CDOs) and Credit Default Swaps (CDS) in overseas territories, it added.

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