Date:27/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/27/stories/2006062703281500.htm

Back Tata MF ties up with South Indian Bank

Our Bureau

Aims to make 10-million investor club

FUND PACT: Mr Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, MD Tata Asset Management Ltd, & Dr V.A. Joseph, Chairman and CEO of SIB Ltd, exchange memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the distribution of Tata Mutual Fund products at a function held at Taj Residency, Ernakulam on Monday.

Kochi , June 26

Tata Mutual Fund has tied up with South Indian Bank (SIB) to have its mutual fund products distributed through 200 of the 451 bank branches.

After signing the MoU with SIB, Mr Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, Managing Director of Tata Asset Management Company, said: "With this tie-up, customers of South Indian Bank will get an opportunity to invest in Tata Mutual Fund schemes at the bank branches."

Talking about the transformations in the banking scenario, Dr V.A. Joseph, Chairman and CEO, SIB, said that the public no longer perceived banks as a mere repository of deposits and advances.

They were seeking a host of financial services from the same branch. That was where the banks' initiatives to meet the insurance and investment requirements of its customers would pay dividends.

South Indian Bank would be expanding its branch network by adding another 24 branches during the current year, taking its branch network to 475.

It also plans to increase the revenue from selling insurance and mutual fund products from Rs 3 crore of last year to Rs 10 crore this year.

Tata Asset Management, which presently has Rs 12,000 crore of assets and one million investors, hopes to make it 10 million investors in another three to five years by expanding its presence from 70 to 500 centres.