ABN Amro eyeing local banks

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, FEB. 12. The world's sixth largest bank, ABN Amro Bank, is looking at acquiring some `local' banks in the private sector in India. Options are being looked into and something might emerge in the next 12 months, said Mr. Jan Peter Schmittmann, Senior Executive Vice-President for the bank's new growth markets.

He was addressing a press conference here after the inauguration of the bank's 10th branch in India and its first in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Mr. Schmittmann said the bank might also look at some State-owned banks at a later stage. The bank was also evaluating the possibility of setting up a processing company (for back office operations). To start with, it would cover Indian operations. Hyderabad was being considered as one of the possible locations for the operations, but final decision has mot been taken. The bank has 40 ATMs in India and plans to increase this to 120 in a few years.

The bank is the largest automobile financier among foreign banks in India and is set to consolidate its position with the launch of an innovative auto-loan product.

This is the web-based auto loan deal automation system (ALDAS) which brings all entities involved in loan processing on to a single platform and enables online processing and status enquiry of an application. It is working on a full suite of products which would be out by the middle of the year, he said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Business
Previous : Maars bags two orders