Abn Amro Plans To Raise Branches To 30

Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Bank plans to more than double its branch network in the next couple of years.

At present the foreign bank has 11 branches spread across nine cities and plans to grow the network to 30.

ABN Amro's executive vice-president and country representative Romesh Sobti said, "The bank is looking at expanding its branch network to 30. We want to increase our operations to 15 cities in the country from the current nine."

The bank is also planning to go in for a rapid expansion of its customer base. ABN Amro currently has a retail customer base of 2,75,000.

"We are currently growing at 30-35 per cent annually. This calendar year we are anticipating a growth of 60 per cent," said Nitin Chopra, senior vice-president and head of consumer banking (India).

He was speaking at the launch of the bank's netbanking initiative for the consumer banking business. The bank has also changed its back-end system and moved into Finacle, a core banking solution of Infosys Technologies.

Though Finacle is implemented only in India, the bank has a licensing agreement to extend it globally. The product is currently being assessed by a few ABN Amro offices worldwide.

The bank also plans to offer services such as ordering drafts through the Net at a lower rate.

ABN Amro's chief operating officer Meera H Sanyal said, "The bank was the first to start door-step banking. A customer can now order through the Net to a bank official to pick up a cheque or deliver cash in his appointed place at a particular time. He can also put his money in a fixed deposit and get an e-receipt for the same."