Andhra Bank to open office in New Jersey

Tirupati, Oct 16 (UNI) Andhra Bank would open a representative office at New Jersey in USA by next month, as a huge number of Andhra people were living there, bank's Chairman and Managing Director R S Reddy said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Reddy said the bank had already opened its representative office in Dubai in May 2006. The RBI had already given permission to open one more representative office in New Jersey.

The bank was in the process of forming a joint venture company in Malaysia in alliance with the Bank of Baroda and Indian Overseas Bank, he said adding the bank would hold a minimum of 26 per cent stake in the joint venture.

He said Andhra Bank had signed MoU with Bank of Baroda and Legal and General Group of UK to form the joint venture life insurance company. The company was in the process of filing for approvals from IRDA.

Replying to a query on the impact of the global liquidity crisis on Indian banking system, Mr Reddy said he was reassuring bank customers that their money was safe in Indian banks and especially in Andhra Bank.

Central Government's initiative to infuse liquidity in the money market by cutting down the CRR from 9 per cent to 7.5 per cent had taken care of immediate shock, he said.

The client base of the bank was over 18 million as at the end of September, 2008, he said adding the bank would start selling of gold coins business at the selected branches as the RBI had already given its approval for the venture.

UNI KNR MDG 1930